


Fixing Seasons 2 and 3: Angelofthequeers "Hold Me By Both Hands"

by Keyseeker



Series: Fanfic Analyses [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Hold me by both hands, I tend to have a lot to say about fix-it fics, Meta, Multi, fanfic analysis, fanfiction analysis, not fanfiction, yeah another one of these
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:28:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23110972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keyseeker/pseuds/Keyseeker
Summary: So I REALLY liked Angelofthequeers "Hold Me By Both Hands", it's an awesome fix-it fic with a ton of well-developed subplots, and it deserves some good analysis! (And also a read. Seriously, it's good.)Essay 1: The Harassment and Objectification of Adrien(To be clear, this is harassment and objectification by other characters in-universe, not the narrative)Essay 2: The Poly Love Interests: Luka and KagamiEssay 3: Alya (and Nino)Essay 4: The Redemption of Chloe Bourgeois
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi
Series: Fanfic Analyses [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883209
Comments: 35
Kudos: 116





	1. The Harassment and Objectification of Adrien

**Author's Note:**

  * For [angelofthequeers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelofthequeers/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Hold Me By Both Hands](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21597859) by [angelofthequeers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelofthequeers/pseuds/angelofthequeers). 



Miraculous Ladybug often SHOWS Adrien being harassed, but it doesn’t go into much detail about it – especially the consequences on Adrien.

Angel not only shows the consequences, but also other characters realizing that Adrien’s being harassed and trying to both get him out of that situation, and to help him stand up for himself so he can assert himself even when they’re not around.

Naturally, the first one to harass Adrien – and his main harasser – is Lila.

_“Oh, Adrien!” Lila latches onto Adrien’s arm with her signature too-wide smile. “You’re back! I’m so glad our protest worked!”_

_“Yeah.” Adrien gently tugs his arm free of Lila’s grip and beams around at his classmates. “Thanks, guys. I saw the protest from my window. It…it means a lot that you’d all do that for me.”_

_“Oh, it was nothing!” Although she doesn’t try to latch on again, Lila runs her hand down Adrien’s arm. Marinette resists the urge to growl. No! Bad Marinette! Don’t be jealous! Just because she’s all over Adrien –_ (Chapter 4)

Lila doesn’t know Adrien. Like, AT ALL. Volpina didn’t happen in this story after all, since Adrien skips directly from finding the book and brooch to going to Master Fu’s – he didn’t go to school that day and meet Lila. Yet Lila’s ALREADY hanging all over him. Chloe was also pretty enthusiastic, but he at least knew her and hadn’t seemed too put off by it.

Here, he’s clearly uncomfortable. With the way she first latched onto his arm, then when she was denied that, ran her hand down it… it makes me shudder. In a way that’s almost worse, her STROKING his arm. Especially after being shaken off.

Marinette can tell she doesn’t like it, but at this point, just thinks her emotional reaction is due to jealousy. Which, to be fair, a large part of it probably is. But it’s not ONLY jealousy. She’s realized that Lila’s behavior here is… iffy, to say the least. Not fully crossing lines yet, not this early in knowing Lila, but- she either doesn’t know what’s appropriate, or doesn’t care.

Marinette’s too focused on her joy and relief at Adrien being allowed to return to school to dwell on that for very long however.

Unfortunately, it’s not long before Lila gets back to harassing him, touching him against his will.

 _“Marinette’s right,” Lila says, shifting so that she’s snuggling into Adrien’s side. He automatically leans away and straight into Marinette, whose heart spontaneously combusts in her chest. “Someone as smart as you couldn’t possibly be useless!”_ (Chapter 5)

Even though Adrien’s shaken her off before and has never shown interest in her, she’s still insisting on putting herself in contact with him as much as possible. He tries to shake her off, tries to get away from her physically as much as he can without risking confrontation. He IS asserting himself in small ways, making his feelings on the matter quite clear – to anyone who cares. Which unfortunately, Lila doesn’t.

_“Marinette_ _is_ _right, though,” Lila says, resting her chin on her ‘un-sprained’ hand. “Your eyes really are such a gorgeous shade of green.”_

_“Thanks.” Adrien once again shifts away from Lila. “I think this third sentence is –”_

_“And your hair is so golden!” Lila continues. “_ _Oro come il sole_ _!”_ (Chapter 5)

At this point, Marinette starts to realize that something’s up with Lila, that she’s doing this on purpose – though that train of thought gets derailed soon afterwards by a startling realization.

_The nerve of this bitch! Can’t she see that Adrien’s clearly uncomfortable with her touching him? And Marinette was here first, so how dare Lila just barge in and –_

_Marinette freezes. What is she thinking? Why on earth is she treating Adrien like some possession that she’s entitled to? Is she really that…_ _fixated_ _on him? The realisation is like icy water straight to her insides. She’s fighting over a_ _boy_ _! And sure, Lila’s totally a liar, but it’s not like that’s the only reason why Marinette dislikes her…_ (Chapter 5)

Marinette cares about Adrien, cares how he feels – she’s a LOT better than Lila.

But that doesn’t mean she’s been treating Adrien perfectly either. Luckily she generally hasn’t caused harm to Adrien so far, but – this was a good realization on her part. Because even people who don’t want to hurt others, who genuinely care and are kind, sweet people overall, can fall into bad modes of thinking. People are multilayered like that. And well- when it comes to Adrien, Marinette has.

Later that day, Marinette has a long talk with Tikki about her realization.

_“Is this about class today?” Tikki says. “Lila did seem very –”_

_“No, it’s not about Lila,” Marinette says. “It’s about_ _me_ _. Seeing how I was acting around Adrien because of Lila…it just made me realise how fixated I can be. I just…” She blinks rapidly to dispel the stinging in her eyes, though she’s unsuccessful. “I feel like so much of what I do is because of Adrien. I entered that game tournament because he did, even if I won fair and square and I genuinely enjoyed it – I always ‘happen’ to be around when he’s doing his photoshoots – Tikki, what normal girl does all this? I even stole his_ _phone_ _because of an embarrassing voicemail!”_ (Chapter 5)

Honestly? Marinette’s the one who’s MOST hurt by her obsession with Adrien. She can hardly talk to him, yet a lot of her world revolves around him – often without his knowledge.

And these things? They often aren’t pleasant for her. She enjoyed the game tournament, sure, but most of the rest of it? The anxiety from freaking out over him? The guilt and anxiety from stealing his phone? They’re not good feelings. And stealing his phone especially is just… a pretty bad thing to do. That’s an invasion of privacy and, well, theft, even if she DID give it back afterwards. Her obsession has become toxic, eating away at her free time and damaging her mental health, and making her do things she normally wouldn’t do.

That isn’t to say that her liking Adrien itself is unhealthy or wrong – just that she’s gotten into a bad mindset regarding him. It still stems from a good place at its core, and she usually hasn’t gone too far – since the story diverges at the end of season 1, some of the worse things Marinette’s done regarding Adrien, like her actions towards Kagami in Animaestro and Ikari Gozen, haven’t happened and WON’T happen.

Luckily, Tikki’s there to point this out:

_“And you only deleted the voicemail,” Tikki says. “You didn’t snoop. It wasn’t right to take his phone in the first place, but a true stalker would have gone through everything to get all the information they could about him! You were scared of being embarrassed, not trying to creep on him.”_

_“I still took his phone,” Marinette says. “Do I even really like him? Or am I just so wrapped up in this crush I’ve got on him that I don’t even know?”_ (Chapter 5)

Tikki’s right. What Marinette did was bad, but she definitely could’ve been worse – she hasn’t fallen too far. And it’s good for Marinette to question her own intentions and beliefs at this stage, after realizing her mindset regarding Adrien had become warped.

_“Well, what do you know about him?” Tikki says, and oh boy, getting Marinette to talk about Adrien is most definitely a sure-fire way to get her to not shut up._

_“I know how much it meant to him to think that the scarf I knitted was from his father,” she says. “I know when it’s Adrien the model smiling and when it’s Adrien Agreste smiling. I know that he likes video games and he feels so lonely because he misses his mother and his father treats him like – like – gah, I can’t even think of the word! I know how much he hates all the public attention he gets and how everyone throws themselves all over him. I’ve seen how uncomfortable he gets when girls cling to him!”_

_“Does that sound like a stalker?” Tikki says when Marinette pauses for breath. “Or does that sound like someone who cares deeply for their friend, who they happen to have a crush on?”_ (Chapter 5)

Tikki’s right, that DOES sound like someone who cares deeply for her friend. Though I will note, that a stalker CAN know all of this – they’re just unlikely to care too much about their victim’s actual feelings. Not regarding themselves. THAT’S what really separates Marinette from a stalker, and means that while she can mess up regarding Adrien, she never comes close to that level. Because she cares and respects his feelings, even when it’s inconvenient for her. Stalkers don’t.

_“But you don’t get it! I was so possessive over him today! Lila was touching him and sure, I was annoyed that he was uncomfortable, because I’m so sick of people grabbing him and treating him like he’s a toy or something, but I was also jealous! I literally thought that she had no right because I was here first! I called her a bitch in my head!”_

_“Mhm,” Tikki says. “And clearly you’re not a bad person, or you wouldn’t be agonising over this right now.”_ (Chapter 5)

Marinette WAS feeling a bit possessive, that’s true. But the fact that she noticed he was uncomfortable, and is USUALLY uncomfortable with people grabbing him? With treating him like an object or possession? Shows that she cares. Yeah, she’s not perfect about it. Earlier, she did start falling into a similar sort of mindset regarding him. Sometimes you can fall into a bad mindset, even one you abhor. People can be slightly hypocritical.

But the fact that she’s worried about doing so and feels guilty about it, shows that she hasn’t fallen far, and is unlikely to do so.

Tikki puts it well:

 _“I’m thousands of years old,” Tikki says. “I’ve seen a lot of creepy and bad people, and you’re neither of them! You’re just a normal teenage girl who happens to get enthusiastic about her crush and hates it when people put their hands all over him. If you were really a stalker, you’d have taken credit for that scarf to gain his attention. You wouldn’t have let Manon be in that photoshoot with him. You would have gone through his phone when you had it. You wouldn’t have tried to step down and let Max play in the tournament. You’d constantly be touching him and invading his personal space like Chloé and Lila do. You wouldn’t have gotten the whole class involved in a protest so that he could come back to school! You’ve made mistakes, yes, but you’ve realised that you were wrong, and you tried to better yourself! That’s what makes you a good person, Marinette.”_ (Chapter 5)

Marinette messed up slightly, but not THAT badly, and she doesn’t deserve to see herself as a bad person. She’s not. She made a very human mistake, and as a person and a kid, she’s gonna make those. And as Tikki points out, if she had as malicious and bad intentions and mindset as she’s fearing she had, she would’ve doe worse things than she actually did. It’s important to own up to your mistakes, but also to NOT exaggerate them, to see them for what they are, and forgive yourself, while trying not to repeat them – though also not bashing yourself too hard if you slip up once in awhile (assuming that it’s not too harmful a mistake.)

I do disagree with Tikki slightly on this bit however:

 _“Remember everything you just told me about Adrien. You don’t act anything like his other fans, and you don’t hang off him like Chloé and Lila do,” Tikki says. “You know things about the true Adrien that only his family and friends really know. I personally don’t think you put him on a pedestal. You’re a teen girl with a crush and when your crush is famous, there’s bound to be at least some influence from his public image. Especially when you’re around other teen girls who are fans.”_ (Chapter 5)

She makes some very good points about Adrien being famous influencing her views on him, and her tacit implication that that’s fine, that’s normal, it doesn’t say anything bad about Marinette as a person, is good. I DO think that Marinette puts Adrien on a bit of a pedestal however, at least in canon. I don’t remember whether this came up in season 1, but I know that in season 2 at least, she refers to Adrien as “perfect” a few times, and that’s a bit of a red flag that she has him on a pedestal, especially with how her general anxiety combines with her slightly skewed view of him, to make her have difficulty correctly modeling his behavior when she tries to figure out how he’ll react. Though again, I may be thinking more of later episodes, since I’ve seen those more recently and remember them better. I don’t think it was as extreme in season 1 though, so that may be why Tikki says that she doesn’t think Marinette puts Adrien on a pedestal.

Marinette resolves to try being friends with Adrien first and foremost, putting away her photos of Adrien modeling, while only leaving ones where Adrien’s with his friends, or when it was a photo taken AS friends.

 _“Thanks, Tikki,” Marinette says with a wistful smile at her stack of Adrien modelling pictures. The only photos of Adrien left on her wall are those where he’s either with friends or smiling for a dorky photo: selfies from their phones, silly pictures shared between them and Alya and Nino, even the fun ones that the whole class (minus Chloé and Sabrina) had done together after Juleka had been akumatised. There’s a sense of rightness settling inside her as she examines the photos on her wall that show the real Adrien, happy with his friends, rather than Adrien the model that the world gets to see. In that moment, she knows she’s made the correct choice._ (Chapter 5)

I really like the symbolism of this scene, with her putting away the more objectifying preconceived notions of Adrien as a celebrity, while leaving up the pictures of Adrien with his friends, with him being treated as a person. In the modeling photos he’s more of a pretty mannequin – especially since his father coerces him into doing them, even when he’s made other plans. While in the more personal pictures, Adrien’s having fun and being treated as his own person with agency.

Soon afterwards, Prime Queen occurs, with Nadja being extremely nosy and invasive about their love lives:

 _“Ladybug, Chat Noir,” the reporter says. “So, a lot of fans think of you as a couple of superheroes. But also, and I quote unquote, “as a couple”, period.”_ (Chapter 6)

Naturally, Ladybug paics about the question – this is NOT what she signed up for, and she’s only 15 anyway.

 _“Can you confirm that you’re dating, here, tonight?” Nadja presses on, and annoyance immediately starts to set Ladybug’s jaw._ _Why_ _do fans want to stick their noses so far into celebrities’ lives? Why is there no such thing as privacy? Haven’t she and Chat Noir earned that much at least? It’s not like they’re movie stars or anything; with them, personal questions could literally be the difference between life or death._ (Chapter 6)

Another feeling, another nagging thought tags along with her annoyance:

 _Her heart starts to break even more for Adrien. If this is how she feels after a brief intrusion, how must he feel every single day of his life?_ (Chapter 6)

She hadn’t really thought in detail about this before – hadn’t had a frame of reference for how he might feel, for what might be dealing with. Now that she does… well, she’s going to cover that more later.

_“I – I’m very sorry, Nadja, but we’re superheroes,” Ladybug says firmly, waving her hands as if to ward off the intrusive question. “We’re not here to answer such personal questions.”_

_“Meow! My Ladybug’s grown claws!” Chat Noir teases. Ladybug wishes she could snap that this isn’t the time, but they’re on live TV and she doesn’t want to do anything to threaten their united front._ (Chapter 6)

Chat still hasn’t really realized that something’s wrong, just how uncomfortable Ladybug is, and he has no clue how invasive Nadja’s being – because by HIS standards, this is normal. To Ladybug, this is a nightmare. To Chat, this is his everyday life. It’s particularly telling with this line, this thought from Ladybug:

 _Doesn’t that cat see what’s wrong here?_ (Chapter 6)

Because no. He can’t. It’s hard to see that something’s wrong, when all you’ve known are those wrong circumstances.

 _Though Chat Noir still doesn’t understand what’s got her so distressed, as evident by his flippant remark about the price of stardom._ (Chapter 6)

He needs to have this explained to him, because if HE was ever distressed by such things, he’d be told – probably HAS been told – that he’s in the wrong. That he needs to suck it up. That he’s just being dramatic, and not to shame his father by “acting out”.

As soon as Ladybug expresses to Chat how uncomfortable she was with Nadja’s questions and Chat’s encouragement down the “couple” train of questioning, he apologizes, not having realized that she was uncomfortable. He still doesn’t fully understand why she’s upset, but he knows that she IS upset, and he doesn’t want to hurt her.

Now that that’s settled, Ladybug starts going into more detail about her revelation regarding Adrien.

_“I feel like the worst person ever,” she says thickly, wiping her face dry, and her magic suit isn’t even damp from cleaning her face. “There’s a boy at my school – Adrien Agreste, you have to know him, right?”_

_“Can’t exactly miss him,” Chat Noir mutters._

_“You can’t tell anyone but…I’ve got the biggest crush on him, kitty. I had pictures of him up and I knew his schedule and everything, like some_ _stalker_ _! Okay, so I’ve got all my friends’ pictures and schedules up too, but it’s kind of hard to focus on that when I literally_ _stole Adrien’s phone_ _to delete an embarrassing voicemail so he wouldn’t think I was a loser, and it doesn’t help that my autism means I can really fixate on what I’m interested in if I don’t keep my hyperfixations and special interests in check –”_ (Chapter 6)

_“I mean, I love the real him, of course,” Ladybug says. Although her voice is shaky and high, at least she can actually_ _word_ _right now. Chat Noir’s presence is doing wonders, despite his annoying lack of timing when it comes to jokes. “I know an Adrien model smile from the real thing, and I’d like to_ _think_ _I know a little bit about the real Adrien. But I didn’t even realise how sick he must be of always being in the spotlight and having fans who claim that they know the real Adrien when they don’t! And I could still be one of them!”_

_“Milady –”_

_“Now I know how he must feel,” Ladybug says miserably. “Those prying questions…trying to dig up our personal lives for a_ _scoop_ _…I never realised until now how hard it must be for him. And I just feel even worse because I was one of those people feeding into it!”_ (Chapter 6)

She’s connecting the dots together, realizing what it’s like to be a celebrity, for people to see your personal life as a STORY, and to see you more as a character than a person. To think they know you when they don’t, and to believe they have the right to know more than you’re willing to tell. She DOES genuinely know Adrien better than most of those rabid celebrity fans, but – she’s not wrong that she was falling into that mindset, of seeing his outward image and not really thinking about his own perception, feelings, and choices. She had a thought back when Lila grabbed him, of how she was there first, as if she was somehow entitled to Adrien, like she could call dibs, like it was her choice who he was with – and that thought SCARED her. Because of where it led, and what it symbolized.

Now that she’s separated herself from that mindset, now that she’s gotten a taste of the receiving end, she can appreciate how bad it truly is.

Chat understands why she might fall for him as Adrien rather than Chat.

 _“It sounds to me like you really do like him,” Chat Noir continues, squeezing her with the arm he’s got around her. “And I don’t think he’d blame you for getting that tangled up with perfect Adrien Agreste.” There’s an odd note of bitterness in Chat Noir’s voice when he says those words. “I mean, being that famous, he’d be forced to project that perfect image, right?”_ (Chapter 6)

I think here he’s bitter that he’s FORCED to project this image, and that it’s caused Ladybug to get a little mixed up – that it’s caused her to have trouble seeing through to him. Not bitter at her, just that he was forced to do that.

But what she says next reframes things for him, and takes his breath away.

_“But that’s why it’s so confusing.” Ladybug wipes her nose, grimacing at how unheroic she must look right now. She takes a deep breath and chooses her next words carefully. “I don’t think he’s the one putting out that image and pretending like model Adrien and real Adrien are two different people. I interact with him enough to know that he’s so…_ _genuine_ _. He doesn’t pretend to be someone he’s not. I think it’s the public that latches on to what they’re given and blow that up into perfect prince Adrien, like how people do with YouTubers and other celebrities like that, you know? And I’d like to think I at least know a bit about him – especially because I didn’t even know him before I met him, so I wasn’t blinded by that image – but…when people around you are so enthusiastic about the image they create, it kind of…”_

_“Rubs off on you?” Chat Noir says quietly._

_“Exactly,” she agrees. “I mean, we put out a united front as Ladybug and Chat Noir – and we_ _are_ _friends and partners – but we don’t actively go around building an image. We just do our thing and the public decides how they see us, like in that interview. I just…never realised exactly how Adrien must feel until now”_ (Chapter 6)

Now this- THIS was a really interesting and important revelation. I don’t remember seeing it really put like that, but- yeah. That’s the thing. Adrien DOESN’T pretend. He chooses what he shows of himself, and to who he shows it to, but- he’s actually been able to remain authentically himself, without technically putting up a façade, by being selective and displaying the traits of his that would be most appealing to a general audience and won’t get him in trouble.

But those are still him, just like CHAT is still him – just a different side. Because people are multi-faceted like that.

The fact that he’s managed to hold onto himself, despite everything, even having to be careful how he does it – he’s stronger than he knows. And Marinette’s beginning to comprehend just how strong that is. 

Chat shows his gratitude and his point of view as best he can without giving away that he’s Adrien.

 _“I know he’d love to have you as a friend, milady. Who wouldn’t? And I think he’d be happy to know you’re thinking all of this,” Chat Noir says. When Ladybug looks up at him, she can’t for the life of her figure out why he’s got such an odd look on his face. “He’s the sunshine prince of Paris. I’m sure the fact that you and his friends don’t buy into that and don’t chase him all over the place makes him happier than you could ever imagine.”_ (Chapter 6)

I don’t know how much Adrien had even really been thinking about this whole thing before Ladybug brought it up, at least consciously. The public projecting their own image onto him, thinking they know him when they really only know the image that they themselves have created, thinking that he owes them personal info – he’s been experiencing this for so long, it’s just… normal for him.

But Ladybug putting it this way, and showing that he both knows and cares what he’s actually like, and treating him like a friend, albeit one that she’s crushing on, rather than just a celebrity… it means a lot to him. Because when on the celebrity pedestal, he’s alone. But being seen as a friend? He’s not lonely anymore.

 _“Milady, it’s not your fault.” Chat Noir, as observant as he is dorky, seems to immediately notice the path that Ladybug’s thoughts are taking, and he grabs her hand again and squeezes it. “You were right. She should’ve respected us. I just got so caught up in fame that’s different to my –”_ (Chapter 6)

I’m guessing here, he was going to talk about how the fame he gets as Chat is different from his fame as Adrien. Because he didn’t CHOOSE to do the things he did to be famous as his civilian self – heck, a large part of why he’s famous is just “being Gabriel Agreste’s son”, which he had no control over whatsoever. And even the things that he actually DOES, he doesn’t really have control over – canonically, incidents like with Frightingale, where Gabriel simply ignored Adrien’s protests, show that well enough. So to be famous for something he chooses to do and enjoys doing, something that he has complete control over, that his father can’t influence – it would feel very different to him. He doesn’t have to worry about how his image reflects on anyone except for maybe Ladybug, and she’s not exactly going to try to control him. They negotiate, they’re partners. She doesn’t dictate to him like Gabriel does. They’re EQUALS.

A few more chapters pass, and we’re back to Lila’s harassment, acting super familiar with Adrien and generally like she’s his girlfriend, when he’s shown repeated signs that he doesn’t want her near him.

 _“That’s so sweet of you to offer!” Lila says, shooting Marinette and Alya a weird glance out of the corner of her eye. Then she leans in and, without taking it from Adrien, takes a large bite out of the end of the croissant that he had been eating and lets out an appreciative hum. “This is delicious! Your parents are so talented, Marinette!”_ (Chapter 8)

This maneuver, leaning over and just eating out of a person’s hand without them giving permission or really, any sign that they’re ok with it? SUPER familiar move. It’s fine and cute between people who are close, but Lila’s practically a stranger, and one Adrien doesn’t particularly like at that. So it’s just plain invasive and super rude.

Not that that’s the ONLY thing she does.

_“Anyway,” Lila says, running her hand down Adrien’s arm. He instinctively leans away, but she follows him. “I was wondering if you wanted to get ice cream with me after school, Adrien?”_

_Shit. Is she asking him out on a date? Or just an outing as friends? What does he do? If he assumes it’s a date and it’s not, she’ll get offended. But if he assumes it’s not a date and it is, he’ll be leading her on and letting her think that he’s interested in her, when he’s really not. Besides, the thought of being alone with Lila is…worrying, especially if this is how she touches him around other people. Time for a convenient excuse._ (Chapter 8)

Her CONTINUING to run her hand down his arm is just… no. He’s never given her signals that he’s interested in her. Like, ever. He’s always leaned away. And yet she’s FOLLOWING him now when he leans. She’s socially astute enough to know that when someone repeatedly shakes you off or leans away from you or otherwise tries to avoid touching you, you should probably not touch them. But Lila doesn’t care about his feelings. Only her own self-interest.

The fact that Adrien’s worry about Lila is well-founded, that if she’s willing to do THIS in public, that she’ll probably have far less restraint when they’re alone… it’s sickening. I’m legitimately scare for what she might do to him in those circumstances, especially since he’s been raised to just take anything that’s thrown his way, and that if he did what LADYBUG did in Felix and straight-up punched her if she tried to assault him, that she’d claim that he assaulted her unprovoked, and probably that he intended to do FAR worse than just punch her. And, especially since he’s a guy, people would almost certainly believe Lila over him – especially since he WOULD have actually punched her.

That’s if he could even bring himself to do that. It’s one thing to physically fight back against an akuma victim. It’s another to physically fight another person who ISN’T being controlled somehow.

While protecting someone else, he’d probably do it, damn the consequences. But to protect HIMSELF? I’m not convinced he would.

Which would mean he’d have to take whatever she did, or try to get away without harming her much, which could be difficult. And the thought of her even somewhat succeeding, of her kissing him against his will, touching him while he’s desperately trying to get away… it makes me shudder.

And then Lila pretends to care about Adrien’s feelings, and acts as if she’s ashamed and guilty – but it’s really all a ploy so she can retain her reputation, and to guilt Adrien for standing up for himself, even slightly.

_“Sorry, but I really can’t,” he ends up saying. Lila steps back and stares at him with wide, glossy eyes._

_“Oh, I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable!” she says._

_“My father just –”_

_“I understand. It’s okay. I shouldn’t have assumed – I’m awful – I understand if you don’t want to –”_

_“Uh, what?” Alix says from behind Lila, with Kim and Max beside her. “It’s nothing against you, Lila.”_ (Chapter 8)

It sounds like Lila’s sincere. She’s a damn good manipulator here. Luckily, the class ALSO has some brain cells, and still act like themselves. Thought they can’t see through Lila – and if they haven’t been paying close attention to her, I can’t blame them.

Luckily, his classmates tell him he’s allowed to stand up for himself, something that he’s not used to hearing.

_“It’s fine,” Adrien says. Lila smiles at him and walks off. “Thanks, guys. I didn’t know what to do.”_

_“If you don’t want her to touch you, why don’t you just tell her that?” Alix says. “I mean, Chloé’s Chloé, but Lila would stop if you told her.”_

_“It’s alright,” Adrien says. “It’s not like I’m not used to it. People touch you all the time as a model.”_

_“Still doesn’t make it okay,” Kim says and flexes his arms. “You wouldn’t believe how many people wanna touch all this.”_ (Chapter 8)

Alix believes that Lila’s a better person than she actually is, and I can’t blame her. She doesn’t know that Adrien’s ALREADY indicated to her repeatedly to stop, and she only does when continuing would get her trouble. She doesn’t care about his feelings at all.

I really like that Kim ends up being the one to say that it’s not okay. I think it’s pretty important for it to be one of the more “macho” guys in the class to tell Adrien that. To reinforce that it’s wrong regardless of gender. The whole “guys can’t be harassed/assaulted, especially by girls, and if they are then they’re weak” mindset is a major problem, so this was a good choice of character for this message.

_“Kim’s right,” Marinette says. “Just because you’re a model, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to tell people not to touch you! It’s_ _your_ _body!”_

_Adrien can’t help the smile that breaks free at his friends’ words. “Thanks, guys,” he says. “I just don’t know if I’ll be able to ask other people not to touch me.”_

_“That makes sense,” Max says. “Due to your father’s strict nature and refusal to consider your wishes, along with your modelling, the chance of his influence leading to your inability to vocalise what you want when you’re uncomfortable and therefore developing the unfortunate habit of putting up with your discomfort to make it pass faster is –”_ (Chapter 8)

I love Max’s breakdown. He’s hit it right on the nose! And the fact that Max, who isn’t really close to Adrien, can see this and figure it out… Well. It’s no surprise that LILA’S figured it out. Gabriel knows too. He just doesn’t give a damn. It’s better for him if Adrien obeys, after all, and why should he care about his feelings?

At least Adrien’s come to the same conclusion.

_“Actually, he didn’t,” Adrien says absently. “I think he’s got a point. I just don’t know what I’m going to do about it yet.”_

_“Yeah, not like I’ve been telling you that crap for months, dude,” Nino says dryly. “But sure, listen to the nerd with maths on his side.”_ (Chapter 8)

Max just outright stating it like that, along with this being after Ladybug’s confession and analysis of Adrien, has something to do with his sudden acceptance and comprehension of this fact I suspect. He wasn’t ready to hear it before. Now he is.

Lila STILL hasn’t stopped a little bit later, when Glaciator occurs. But she has a sense of self-preservation at least so she doesn’t go too far.

_“So am I,” Adrien says. “But I’m not gonna complain. Um, Lila, can you please not hang off me?” he adds when Lila tries to latch onto his arm._

_“Oh! I’m sorry that you’re uncomfortable!” Lila says. “We’re just very physical in Italy. It’s how we show affection among friends.” She looks like she’s going to try and grab his arm again but thankfully, the looming presence of the Gorilla behind Adrien dissuades her, and so she settles for standing as close to him as she can without the Gorilla scowling at her. It’s still too close, but at least Adrien can_ _breathe_ _._ (Chapter 10)

He’s being more assertive and explicit, in a way that can’t really be misconstrued or ignored. And with Gorilla there, she isn’t going to try. But she WILL make up excuses.

Lila still hasn’t stopped completely though. Luckily, Adrien has a shield. That shield is Marinette.

_“Let’s go!” Mylène grabs Ivan’s hand and takes off. Lila looks like she’s going to make a grab for Adrien again, so he turns to Marinette and hauls the surprised girl onto his back before she can react._

_“Last one there’s a rotten akuma!” Adrien says and breaks into a sprint, carrying Marinette with him and leaving Nino, Alya, and the Gorilla to bring Lila. Okay, so maybe this_ _is_ _a little mean…but honestly, Adrien’s asked Lila not to touch him and he’s repeatedly made his discomfort obvious, so he doesn’t feel as bad as he thought he would for leaving her behind. Marinette’s giggling in his ear is just further proof that he’d made the right choice, especially because she’s got her arms and legs wrapped tightly around him to secure herself without constricting him and feeling him up, as Lila might have done._ (Chapter 10)

Love Adrien being proactive here! There’s a limit to what he can do to protect himself without risk of backlash but the boy is figuring it out! (plus there’s some sweet Adrienette to boot!)

Also, more contrast between how Lila and Marinette act, even though they’re both interested in Adrien (though Marinette is currently attempting to suppress her romantic interest.)

Afterwards, Chat ends up talking to Marinette, and ironically enough parroting back some of Ladybug’s own analysis of her feelings for Adrien, as a way to reassure her after Lila spills Marinette’s crush on Adrien to him.

 _“I know Adrien, okay? Really well. And he hates it when people say they’re in love with him, because they’re_ _not_ _. They’re in love with…the bits of information they’ve got that they blow up in their own minds as some perfect image of him. They’re the people at school and around Paris who chase him and scream for him to marry them and give them his babies.” He gives Marinette an odd grin and adds, “Sounds like you’re a great friend of his, though, if you like him for who he is rather than for what he can give you.”_ (Chapter 10)

People can easily twist bits of information they get on someone and build them into their own character in their head, especially if they just see a little of them. If those bits of information don’t contradict what they’ve built – or heck, often even if they DO – then they can easily become convinced it’s reality. Even just talking with them occasionally for short periods of time may not break that conception. You really need to sit down and talk with them as a person, rather than as this figure you built them up to be, to get an idea of who they actually are.

And if you don’t see others as real people, but more as these characters you built up – well, that’s how you get people going nuts at them, because they’re not really thinking of what it’s actually like for the other person.

Also, side note: I wish Adrien could get a restraining order against CROWDS of people. They shouldn’t be chasing after anyone screaming for them to please make babies with them, but ESPECIALLY a 15-year-old.

When Lila tries again, Adrien gets even MORE blatant in his refusal.

_“That’s so cute!” Lila says when she realises what Marinette’s doing. She nudges Marinette and sidles even closer so that their arms are touching. Marinette’s about to slide away and cite personal space, but Adrien beats her to it when Lila leans over to try and stroke his hair too._

_“No!” He hisses like a cat and curls himself around Marinette, cracking one green eye open to look at Lila. “Only Marinette.”_

_“Oh gosh, I’m sorry!” Lila says. “I shouldn’t have assumed! I just saw how happy you looked, and like I said, we’re very touchy in Italy –” Before she can finish her self-deprecating apology, she jumps up. “Never mind! See you in class, guys!”_

_“Is it just me, or does she make it all about her when she’s apologising?” Alya’s finally detached herself from her phone, just in time to catch the tail end of the drama._

_“You noticed it too, babe?” Nino says. “Felt like she was trying to make Marinette feel bad.”_ (Chapter 11)

Luckily, with his exact circumstances here, Adrien can get away with being so up front with Lila. Normally if he tried this, she would probably have had a worse reaction. But he’s like, half-asleep. So he gets a lot more leeway socially, and Lila knows it.

Good on Alya and Nino for realizing that her “apologies” are all about making others feel bad. Not much of an apology if it’s basically just guilting the other person for speaking up, rather than giving an explanation. And while it SOUNDS like she’s just explaining here – well, if this was truly the case, she would’ve figured out not to do this by now.

Lila’s put on the backburner for awhile, at least as far as her forcing herself on Adrien goes. The next major incident is with the general public – which personally I think is worse. Because a single person you can keep away fairly easily. A crowd? Not as much.

_“Oh my god!” someone shrieks. “It’s Adrien Agreste!”_

_“Shit, gotta go!” Adrien grabs Kagami’s wrist and takes off once more._

_“Is life always this interesting for you?” Kagami says as they round the corner and nearly collide with a middle-aged man. They shout apologies back at him over their shoulders._

_“Interesting? This is just a normal day!” Adrien says. “At least you’ve only got the crushing weight of parental expectations without getting mobbed on the streets!”_ (Chapter 21)

_Turning another corner takes them to the Pont des Arts bridge. Great. How the hell are they supposed to hide in such an open space? Still, Adrien and Kagami leap down to the concrete bank of the Seine, with only a few people on that level, and duck under the bridge, and Adrien sends up a feverish prayer that their pursuers don’t think to look down here._

_“Where’d he go?” someone cries from above them._

_“Come back, Adrien! Have my babies!”_

_“Maybe he went down there!”_

_Adrien’s heart leaps into his dry mouth. But just before he can suggest to Kagami that they keep running or even just jump into the Seine –_

_“It’s him! It’s Adrien!” The speaker is one of the people down at the edge of the Seine, who’s looking right at Adrien and Kagami as he speaks. Adrien’s about to start planning a slow, painful demise for this arse, but the guy looks up over his shoulder and adds, “He just doubled back!”_

_“Oh my god!”_

_“Quick, before we lose him!”_

_The adrenaline still coursing through Adrien’s body as the sounds of his pursuers grow fainter is probably the only thing keeping him upright at this point. Next to him, Kagami looks far less stressed than he feels; although to be fair, she hadn’t been the target of those people._ (Chapter 21)

No one, but ESPECIALLY not a 15-year-old kid, should be subjected to this treatment. This is horrific.

Someone recognizes Adrien and shouts it in their surprise. Fine.

Mobbing him on the streets? Not fine.

Chasing after him through the streets of Paris, to the point where he considers jumping in the Seine to get rid of them? Bad.

Shouting at a 15-YEAR-OLD KID to have their babies? GET A RESTRAINING ORDER. I hope it was at least by a peer. If it was by an adult…

The way Adrien reacts though, the way he refers to them as his pursuers, and how he’s their target… He’s HUNTED. And this is NORMAL for him. He’s used to his wishes and personal life being trampled over to the extent where tons of ordinary civilians feeling entitled to chase after him and yelling at him to have their babies, doesn’t faze him. Because they see him as a concept or a thing instead of a person, as some sort of piece of public property.

No wonder it took time for him to feel like he could assert his own boundaries, if THIS is the background radiation of his life. People feel entitled to him, and he’s expected to just deal with it.

Unfortunately he can’t really stand up to them – not safely. They can easily overwhelm him if they choose not to listen. He’d need some powerful help to fend them off. His safety is the first concern – asserting his boundaries forcefully to them is only any good if they either choose to listen to him, or if he can enforce them himself, or get someone else to back him up on enforcing them. Right now he can’t do any of that, so running it is.

_“Yeah –” Adrien jumps when Lila grabs his arm and rests her head on his shoulder. What is it with people and touching him like he’s a piece of meat? “Um – can you – I mean –”_

_“Yes?” Lila flutters her eyelashes with a coy smile._

_“He wants you to stop touching him,” Marinette says bluntly._

_“Does he really?” Lila says. “I’m sure Adrien would use his words if I was making him uncomfortable.”_ (Chapter 23)

This is sick. He’s made it ABUNDANTLY clear to Lila that he doesn’t want her touching him, usually through body language, but sometimes verbally.

And now she’s DEMANDING that he tell her something fairly harsh, in the hopes that he’ll buckle and not do it. Because she KNOWS how hard that is for him.

And Adrien can see this.

 _But Adrien can’t use his words, unused to feeling like his body is his and that he can ask people to stay outside his personal space bubble, and he’s starting to suspect that Lila knows this. There’s just…something about her eyes._ (Chapter 23)

Adrien’s finally at least STARTING to feel, to realize, that his body is his and his alone. That no one has the right to touch him if he doesn’t feel like it. That even just in general, he’s his OWN PERSON, no one has a right to him, and that he’s allowed to be autonomous.

It’s still really difficult for him, but… he does it.

_Lila, you’re making him uncomfortable!” Marinette snaps. Although he can’t see her, the protective heat in her voice seems to fill Adrien’s body and surge through him as hot courage._

_“Marinette’s right,” he says, trying to tug his arm free of Lila’s grip. “Sorry, Lila, but you’re really making me uncomfortable. And I can’t go out with you because…I love someone else. I’d just be leading you on, and you’re too good for someone to do that to you.”_ (Chapter 23)

He’s extremely nice about it, nicer than Lila deserves, but he puts his foot down. She’s making him uncomfortable, and he feels like he can finally say so.

Of course, Lila fires back by pretending that Adrien harassed HER, but- she stops going after him on THIS front. He’s standing up for himself, and at this point, she can’t continue without being clearly the harasser, even to outsiders. It does her no good to continue trying.

Adrien’s gained a sense of ownership over his own body and is able to finally enforce his own boundaries. And between gaining more autonomy and confidence, and actually having some power now (what with being older and being able to sneak out as Chat Noir), along with having decently powerful friends to help him? He can’t just be bulldozed over when he protests anymore.


	2. The Poly Love Interests: Luka and Kagami

Setting up Luka’s and Kagami’s relationships with Adrien and Marinette is a particularly tricky task; unlike with most of the other major characters in the fic, they were introduced in season 2, which means that they first appeared well AFTER Angel diverged from canon. Because of this, there’s no scaffolding already in-place for them when the story begins. For Alya and Nino, for instance, it’s possible to just take their pre-existing relationship in canon (since they got together in season 1) and all the relationships they already had with other characters, and just drop them into the story. Same with Adrien, Marinette, and Chloe. All of them have firmly established backgrounds and relationships with the other characters before the fic starts.

The one exception to that is Lila, since TECHNICALLY the fic diverges at the start of Volpina, rather than actually at the start of season 2. However, Lila’s role doesn’t require as much relationship building – she’s an antagonist, and not a very well-developed one in canon. She just kinda has to do antagonistic things and have some sort of goal, and that’s sufficient. Plus, she’s fairly easy to slip into the story without crowding it. As an antagonist, she provides conflict for the protagonists to overcome, spurring the plot and character development. She just has a fundamentally different role from most of the other characters, one that has a very low threshold for needing character establishment and development, while also providing her ample screentime in order to develop her, without crowding other characters out.

Kagami and Luka are different. As Love Interests (and ones that move onto full-on relationships at that) they have a far higher threshold for character establishment and development. They need to not just be useful plot devices, as antagonists can be, used to spur on other characters and the plot, but be major characters in their own rights. Furthermore, with the romance angle (and with Miraculous Ladybug already revolving around the relationships of its two leads), in order to put them anywhere remotely close to equal footing with the Love Square in relationship development, they need a LOT of screentime and development – a difficult task, especially when taking into account how many OTHER subplots are going on in the fic already, and just the sheer length of it.

As it was, Angel kinda ended up taking shortcuts with developing Kagami and Luka and establishing their initial relationships with the other characters, so that they could get to establishing the poly relationship between the four of them, which DID get a lot of development. Understandable (I’m a fic writer too, I’ve definitely glazed over parts of the story I’m not as interested in to get to the parts that I really want to write) but it did hurt the establishment of the poly relationship some.

Kagami was first introduced during (or rather after, since Angel skipped to the aftermath rather than showing the episode itself) Riposte, which appears to have gone roughly like it did in canon. Nothing too notable there.

Shortly afterwards – I’m guessing a few days, maybe weeks later, it’s within the same chapter so it can’t have been TOO long – Kagami and Adrien sneak away from their assigned lesson with their fencing teacher (since he’s sick and forgot to cancel).

This is Kagami’s first on-screen appearance in the fic that serves to establish her personality and relationship with Adrien.

One of the first things that Angel hints at, in the first page she’s on-screen, is how isolated Kagami normally is – even more than Adrien in some ways.

_“Because he’d get in trouble every time I snuck away if he didn’t,” Adrien says. “And…I think he knows this is the only freedom I get. He’s always been on my side.”_

_“Oh,” Kagami says softly. “That must be nice.”_

_Adrien frowns at her. “You don’t have a bodyguard? What about your driver?”_

_“We don’t have a driver. Our car is self-driving and responds to Mother’s voice, since she can’t drive herself.”_

_“Huh.” Adrien takes a moment to thank the heavens for Gorilla. God knows what he’d do if he was stuck with a self-driving car that wouldn’t be programmed with a shred of compassion. “Come on! While he’s not looking!”_ (Chapter 21)

This was a good way to quickly establish that Kagami’s isolated in somewhat similar ways to how ADRIEN’S isolated. There’s not much detail here – not a whole lot of info on her relationship with her mother or whether she’s had friends before, for instance – but most people reading the fic aren’t flying completely blind, and DO already know that Kagami’s really isolated, and at least canonically, does not currently have any other friends, and likely never did (though Angel does make it so that Kagami has had friends before; but that comes up way later).

But just having Kagami say softly how nice it must be to have a bodyguard – an adult – on his side, who allows him some freedom – it conveys that she’s in a similar situation, but WITHOUT that little bit of support and human contact, as small as it is.

It also emphasizes Adrien’s situation a bit, with the emphasis on the “shred of compassion” – because Gorilla’s the only adult regularly in his life (besides Fu in this fic, I guess, though even he’s not too present on that front) to SHOW him compassion – his father certainly doesn’t, not without some sort of ulterior motive, and Nathalie… Nathalie’s iffy. Gorilla will actually stick his neck out for Adrien. Nathalie, not so much.

 _Kagami lets out a giggle as Adrien grabs her hand and bolts down the street, weaving between the bustling Parisians who are thankfully so wrapped up in their own lives that they don’t notice who he is. Wow. Is that the first time Kagami’s laughed? It’s so…_ _weird_ _being able to empathise with someone, to actually know what it’s like to be in their situation rather than just sympathising from afar. And she’s so…_ _radiant_ _when she laughs like that, just like when Marinette laughs._ (Chapter 21)

That whole exchange up above gave Adrien a nice ‘hook’ with which to relate to Kagami, to deepen their bond more than a typical friendship, to give their relationship a special sort of dynamic, even so soon after having met. It’s not enough to really develop it on its own, but shows how it might develop later.

Adrien also has an initial, fairly superficial attraction to Kagami here – which makes sense, he seemed to have some in Riposte as well. The boy has a type.

I say it’s superficial because well, he doesn’t know her well at all yet, so it’s nothing deep right now – but it could grow to be deeper later.

Though the bit about how radiant her laughter is makes me wonder – because by this point Chat’s realized that he loves Marinette and he thinks about her in the same sort of terms as he’s thinking about Kagami now, but- how long did it take for him to consciously realize that?

Is he just better attuned to recognizing his own romantic feelings towards others now, so he can better recognize that he’s feeling similarly towards Kagami, and he just gets crushes super quickly? …Okay knowing canon that actually seems likely. Took the boy like, fifteen minutes to confess his love for Marinette in Oblivio after all.

It’s definitely still just a mild crush at this stage though – he empathizes with Kagami and likes what he’s seen of her, but there’s been no big ‘Wham’ moment like with Ladybug or even Marinette, and there hasn’t been time for his feelings to slowly grow as he sees more of her and gets to know her.

Adrien has at least been very perceptive when it comes to Kagami’s family situation, with being able to recognize how similar Kagami’s earlier sentiment in Riposte was to his own feelings regarding his father, a finding that he quickly shares with Kagami, though without explicitly mentioning his father.

_“Interesting? This is just a normal day!” Adrien says. “At least you’ve only got the crushing weight of parental expectations without getting mobbed on the streets!”_

_“That’s…true. Is it that obvious that my mother’s like that?”_

_“Considering your speech to me before you were akumatised? Kinda, yeah.”_ (Chapter 21)

It appears that the episode REALLY went pretty much identically to in canon. I looked up the transcript for the episode on the ML wiki, and I believe that this is the line Angel is referencing;

 **Adrien:** _(Momentarily stunned by her appearance.)_ Let's do a... decisive match? _(As he speaks, he notices Kagami's ring.)_  
 **Kagami:** What's the point? You won. There's no such thing as a second chance in my family. Goodbye. _(She gets into her car, which drives off.)_

This is very much a familiar feeling to Adrien, a familiar sentiment which makes it easy to see why he took Kagami’s line earlier in the chapter about his bodyguard the way he did, correctly identifying that she doesn’t really have a compassionate adult looking out for her and giving her any slack, further deepening his identification with her.

My first time reading this exchange between Adrien and Kagami, with Adrien referencing the speech Kagami made in Riposte, I hadn’t actually remembered that line though, as it’d been awhile since I’d watched that episode. I remembered the general sentiment, but not the actual wording, so while I still had the idea of what Angel was going for, it didn’t land quite as well. I didn’t feel like pausing reading the chapter and looking up the transcript at the time I was first reading it, especially since I understood the gist of the exchange well enough. That being said, it would probably have been helpful to have that line repeated in some way within the fic itself, both because people like myself may not have remembered exactly the exchange Adrien’s talking about, and because Angel’s fic rewrites season 2 and 3 episodes anyway. There was no guarantee that Riposte went exactly as it did in canon, word-for-word, and the only reason the reader knows that it DID occur that exactly, is that Adrien’s reference here to Kagami’s speech before she was akumatized makes no sense otherwise. The reader is obviously supposed to know what he’s talking about, and the only way we could know that is if it was the same as canon.

Adrien’s fans spot him and chase after him and Kagami, prompting Luka to interfere.

 _“It’s him! It’s Adrien!” The speaker is one of the people down at the edge of the Seine, who’s looking right at Adrien and Kagami as he speaks. Adrien’s about to start planning a slow, painful demise for this arse, but the guy looks up over his shoulder and adds, “He just doubled back!”_ (Chapter 21)

Side note: still find it hilarious that Adrien’s first impression of Luka is that he’s an arse, even if it’s immediately proven wrong.

_“Thank you,” Kagami says to the boy when Adrien says nothing._

_“Y-Yeah. Thanks,” Adrien adds shakily. “I know I should be used to it, but it’s still terrifying.”_

_The boy snickers behind his hand. Adrien idly notes that his nails are painted deep black and his dark hair is dip-dyed teal and that Gabriel would have an aneurysm if Adrien ever painted his nails and dyed his hair like that. He’s the antithesis of everything that Gabriel holds dear. Dear lord, this boy is just_ _perfect_ _._ (Chapter 21)

Luka made one HELL of a first impression, and with Adrien’s background especially, it makes sense why he reacted the way he did. Adrien seems to romantically attracted to people standing up for others, especially against some larger, more intimidating opponent – I suspect because they’re modeling the sort of behavior that Adrien WISHES he could do with his father. Combine that with Luka looking like the sort of person Gabriel would hate, and well – it’s no wonder that Adrien gets a huge crush on Luka immediately, far more quickly and obviously than he does with Kagami. Funnily enough, the way he crushes on Luka here is reminiscent of the way he started crushing on Ladybug, while his crush on Kagami is more similar to his crush on Marinette – before she saved him from that akuma anyway and he fully, consciously realized he was head-over-heels for her.

Also, Luka’s pretty.

And then Luka plays a heart song for Adrien, and he falls for him even more.

_The boy snorts. His teal eyes, alight with amusement, draw Adrien in like a magnet, scrambling his brain and leaving his mind momentarily blank. “That’s okay. You’re just socially awkward.” He strums a note on his guitar, something both off and yet perfect, something that punches Adrien in the chest and leaves him momentarily fumbling for breath._

_“H-How did you do that?” Adrien finally forces out when he’s able to speak. The boy smiles._

_“I can hear people’s heart songs,” he says. “Yours sounds delightfully perfect but if you stop to listen to it, there are little flaws.” The boy strums a few more notes that are both the same and yet so different to what he’d played before, in a way that Adrien can’t even begin to articulate. “Small imperfections. Ones that you wouldn’t see on the surface.”_ (Chapter 21)

Considering how often Adrien’s placed on a pedestal, seen as “perfect”, but not as a person? This is really important. Even Marinette’s fallen into that trap before.

But Luka can see it right away… and also because his sister’s Juleka and she talks about Adrien sometimes, so that helps. Luka’s observant, not psychic.

Being seen for who he is, as a person, with imperfections and flaws? Being told that it’s okay to mess up a little, it’s fine? That he’s just socially awkward, but not making it out like Adrien is bad or has done something wrong or disappointing? That’s just so DIFFERENT from the sort of thing Adrien would experience with his father, driving further home that Luka’s the antithesis of Gabriel – and causing Adrien’s heart to flutter even harder.

And Luka considers Adrien to be a friend immediately, something that Adrien just adores.

_“Thanks again for saving our butts,” Adrien says to Luka._

_“My pleasure. Any friend of Juleka’s is a friend of mine.”_

_Warmth pools in Adrien’s gut. “Friends? Really?”_

_“Of course, if you want,” Luka smiles. “And I promise I’ll never ask you to have my babies.”_ (Chapter 21)

Adrien LOVES his friends, he cares for them a lot, and he treasures any new addition. To have someone just come up and say “of course I’ll be your friend, I already consider you a friend, if you’re down for that?” He hasn’t had that kind of experience since Nino befriended him. Combine that with Luka saving his butt and really seeming to see _him_ , even just the first time he’s met Adrien in-person? Not too surprising that Luka ends up being his bi awakening.

_“Glad to see that you’re so responsible about it,” Luka says as he punches his number into Adrien’s phone. Adrien does the same with Luka’s phone and although he’s tempted to add Kagami’s number too, there’s no point in risking the wrath of Tomoe Tsurugi; it had been enough of a battle to get himself added to Kagami’s phone, and Tomoe wholeheartedly approves of him. “Your future wife will be lucky to have you.”_

_“Or husband,” Adrien blurts out. Why did he say that? It’s not like he’s ever really shown an interest in boys before, and he’s in love with_ _Marinette_ _…but the way Luka isn’t even fazed by that and instead just smiles is making Adrien question a_ _lot_ _of things about himself right now._ (Chapter 21)

Something else to note here; while Kagami technically meets Luka here as well, she has very little actual interaction with him during this sequence. The only interactions she has with Luka directly are when she thanks Luka for saving her and Adrien:

 _“Thank you,” Kagami says to the boy when Adrien says nothing._ (Chapter 21)

Which Luka doesn’t actually respond to directly, instead responding to Adrien’s “thanks”.

And here, where Kagami introduces herself:

_“I’m not surprised,” Luka says. “She’s pretty quiet until you push a guitar into her hands. And you are?”_

_Kagami immediately straightens and bows slightly. “Kagami Tsurugi,” she says, shaking his hand. “I’m a friend of Adrien’s, though I don’t attend Françoise Dupont.”_ (Chapter 21)

Kagami and Luka technically met here, but there’s no development in their relationship – they were just introduced so they each know the other exists. The whole conversation that unfolds, with Adrien as the focal point, makes sense and is realistic, but while it provides a good foundation for Adrien and Luka becoming friends – and later something more – it doesn’t provide that same foundation for Lukagami. Which helps explain why Angel doesn’t actually GO the Lukagami route, despite it seeming like an obvious path, with the later poly relationship.

Next chapter and Adrien’s made plans to meet up with Luka.

_“I’m sorry, Adrien. I know how much you were looking forward to it.”_

_“Yeah, well…I’d better go practice. Maybe if I’m up to his standards, he’ll let me come near the end. Better than nothing, right? And I was really looking forward to seeing Luka.”_

_“Luka? Who?”_

_“Juleka’s brother.”_ (Chapter 21)

Just generally nice to see that Adrien’s kept in contact with Luka, and has been trying to foster their friendship. Interesting departure from canon as well, where Marinette met Luka before Adrien did.

Speaking of which, Marinette goes down below to get Luka, since everyone’s waiting on him. It goes pretty similarly to how it did in canon.

_She jumps again when she realises that he’s opened his eyes and is staring straight at her with a smile. His eyes are the same shade of blue as his mother’s, also matching the teal tips of his black hair, and he’s wearing ripped black jeans and a short-sleeved blue jacket over a white Jagged Stone shirt._

_Holy crap. He’s_ _gorgeous_ _._

_“Hey!” Marinette blurts out. “My name’s Mama – Ma-Ma-Marinette!” Oh god, she’s stammering again. Why is this her life? She takes a deep breath to compose herself and pushes on. “Your mum sent me down here. The groove – ah, the group’s waiting for you.”_ (Chapter 21)

She immediately finds him physically attractive, which – fair, like I said before, he’s definitely pretty. Nothing deep, it’s just an immediate “Crap, he’s cute” reaction.

The whole scene is copied from Captain Hardrock exactly, until this exchange, after the scene in canon had ended:

_“Did I really –? Oh no! At least Adrien wasn’t here to see that. He’d never let me live it down, the dork.”_

_“Adrien?” Luka tilts his head. “You know him?”_

_“Yeah, he’s one of my best friends. You’re the guy who saved him from being mobbed, right?”_

_Luka nods. “He wasn’t ready for a child just yet.”_

_“Uh…what?”_

_“An inside joke. One of his fans was screaming for him to have her babies.”_

_Marinette shudders. “Ick. I can’t believe I used to be like that.”_

_“That’s not the impression I get.” Luka plays a few oxymoronic notes, somehow both chaotic and gentle. “You have a passionate heart. You just struggle with your chaotic brain. You’re not the kind of person to behave like that.”_

_“Seriously, how do you_ _do_ _that?” Marinette complains as blood rushes to pool in her cheeks and stomach._

_“Just like I told Adrien, I can hear people’s heart songs,” Luka says. Whoa. Seriously? That’s…how is that possible? “And just like I told Adrien, I talk to Juleka. You’re a funny girl, Marinette.”_ (Chapter 22)

The little joke that Luka threw in there was funny, without seeming out-of-character, since he’d tried a joke with Marinette just before this – but accidentally made fun of her stutter and made her feel bad, which he didn’t intend.

I’m glad he talked to Juleka about Marinette, because otherwise it would seem that he was either psychic, or just making blind assertions without having a clue what he was talking about, regarding what Marinette was like around Adrien.

Marinette’s immediate attraction to Luka here seems pretty superficial in contrast to Adrien’s attraction to him – the bulk of it seems to have come from his physical attractiveness and him playing some really nice music on the guitar, from his looks and skills, rather than him as a person at this point. This is mostly an indictment of canon’s treatment of Lukanette rather than Angel’s handling of it however, since half of the scene is lifted directly from Captain Hardrock. Angel’s expansion of the scene at least adds a little more dialogue, a little more chance for Marinette to get to know him as a person, than canon did. It just seems like a fairly shallow attraction in contrast to how Angel handled Adrien’s attraction to Luka.

Lukanette fans probably wouldn’t mind much, since this was enough to get them to ship it in-show, but it doesn’t really give non-Lukanette fans much reason to start shipping it.

A few chapters later, and Marinette’s struggling with the realization that she’s in love with both Chat Noir AND Luka.

_The problem is Luka Couffaine. Specifically, how Marinette’s insides flutter and tingle whenever she’s around him. Which totally isn’t fair. Aren’t you supposed to be in love with one person and be with them and only them?_

_To be fair, Marinette isn’t actually with Chat Noir. And yeah, there’s plenty of infidelity in the world, when someone decides that another person is hot and yes please, I’ll have some of that._

_But that’s the problem here. It’s not just that Luka’s attractive. It’s that smile of his that’s so soft, like he’s reading your very soul when he looks at you. It’s how he looks so at peace when he’s sitting there, strumming on his guitar before Kitty Section’s rehearsals (that Marinette has definitely attended only because she’s friends with Rose and Juleka and Ivan, thank you very much). It’s how he never has a harsh word about Juleka, even when he’s doing his brotherly duty and teasing her, and how she immediately looks to him every time she’s starting to stress, such as when her guitar string had snapped and one of Ivan’s drumsticks had fallen overboard._ (Chapter 25)

Problem is, this still doesn’t sound like an attraction that’s based on a lot of substance. It still largely seems to be based on Luka looking pretty and being talented at playing the guitar. Him being kind to Juleka is nice, and an actual sign of who he is as a person, but it’s still not a lot – and none of this is based with actual interactions with him, just observing him.

It feels a lot like Marinette’s attraction to Adrien earlier in fact – but without Marinette becoming as obsessive, and without knowing Luka as well as she knew Adrien, even back then. So to see her calling it “love” and equating it with her feelings for Chat Noir, which grew out of friendship and lots of time spent being with each other, _interacting_ with each other – it feels out of place. Especially since it’s repeatedly been hammered home how Marinette’s initial attraction to Adrien slipped into being more superficial at times, and occasionally thought of him as more of a pedestal or an object. That’s part of why she’s refusing to acknowledge that she’s still in love with him after all – she wants to make sure she sees him as a friend and person first.

But with Marinette being attracted to Luka’s looks, his talents, and then what little she’s observed of his interactions with Juleka (which doesn’t seem to have been all that much at this point, she just hasn’t had much time to get to know him)? Without getting to know him as a person through interaction more, but mostly through some light observation? It feels like Adrien Crush 2.0, but more superficial. There doesn’t seem to have been much basis for a close friendship so far, much less actual love.

Adrien and Kagami arrive on the Couffaine’s houseboat soon afterwards, causing Marinette and Kagami to meet again for the first time since Riposte.

_An awkward silence falls on the boat as everyone sneaks looks at Kagami, who just stares right back evenly. It’s understandable, since she’s a newcomer and none of them know her, but in Marinette’s case, it also just might have something to do with how she’d panicked and ruled in Adrien’s favour back at fencing tryouts. Does Kagami hate her for it? Or had Adrien talked to her about it?_

_“Um – hi!” Marinette decides that she might as well take the first step. “I’m Marinette!”_

_“Adrien’s friend, right?” Kagami says coolly. Marinette’s cheeks flush, although she can’t decide whether it’s because Kagami most definitely dislikes her or because the way this cute girl is narrowing her eyes at Marinette is doing_ _something_ _to Marinette’s insides. Something that she most definitely doesn’t want to think about right now._ (Chapter 25)

Much as with Luka, Marinette’s attraction here is quick and superficial at the moment. She hasn’t recognized it as attraction just yet however, especially since she’s ALREADY caught up in freaking out about loving Chat Noir and Luka at the same time.

_Being the only other person on the houseboat who doesn’t play an instrument, Kagami seems to naturally gravitate towards where Marinette is sitting cross-legged near the cockpit, safely away from the side of the boat, sketchbook once again open. As Kagami sits next to her, Marinette offers her a small smile and Kagami hesitantly smiles back. Then Marinette’s eyes are inevitably drawn to Luka, who’s just strummed a sweet chord, and he catches her gaze and winks at her, and she’s forced to stare down at her notebook so that she doesn’t spontaneously combust on the spot._

_No._ _No_ _. This can’t be happening. Marinette has a crush on_ _Chat Noir_ _. That’s clear as day. So, why must her insides flutter and tingle at the way Luka smiles and winks, charming and mellow with no effort or annoying flair at all?_

_To be fair, Marinette isn’t actually with Chat Noir. And yeah, there’s plenty of infidelity in the world, when someone decides that another person is hot and yes please, I’ll have some of that. But Marinette can’t love two people at once. That’s rubbish, and it’s needlessly complicated, and Chat Noir was here first, so he’s her first choice, especially since she’d only met Luka the other day._ (Chapter 25)

Again, attention is drawn to how she’s attracted to Luka’s “smiles and winks”, and along with the reference with infidelity, with deciding another person is hot – another more superficial quality - and that they want to have some of that, it just doesn’t seem like Marinette’s crush on Luka is based on really knowing him as a person.

Kagami and Marinette have a conversation, where Marinette talks about her difficulties with her crushes on Luka and Chat Noir, and her confusion about what to do about them. I don’t want to recount the whole conversation since it’s fairly long, but… they’re really able to sit down and talk about what love is, along with Kagami introducing Marinette to the concept of polyamory.

It feels like Kagami and Marinette are talking as people and friends first, rather than as potential love interests, getting to know what the other person’s like and their perspective on the world, in a way that wasn’t there for Lukanette. Kagami gave some of her (exclusive to this fic) background, for instance.

_“Your astonishment is cute,” Kagami laughs. “It’s called polyamory. A girl I had a crush on back in Japan told me that she was polyamorous. She said that so long as you’re completely open with your partners, there’s no reason why multiple relationships can’t work.”_

_“A girl? You’re gay?”_

_“I rarely develop romantic feelings but when I do, their gender doesn’t matter. And I’m asexual. But my mother doesn’t know, because I’m not sure whether her reaction would be positive or negative. And it will stay that way.”_

_“Of course!” Marinette hastens to say. “I wouldn’t dream of telling her. Thanks for trusting me enough to tell me. But, uh…asexual? I don’t know_ _anything_ _.”_

_“Of course not, if you haven’t had any reason to suspect that you’re not straight,” Kagami says. “I’ve only known for a year or so, after I realised that I liked Rin, but I didn’t want to do anything physical with her. The thought of it…didn’t repulse me, but it didn’t excite or interest me either. I wasn’t drawn to her in that way at all. That’s when I realised that I was asexual, and I’m not attracted to anyone in that way.”_ (Chapter 25)

Even just this snippet is a lot deeper than Marinette’s attraction to Luka. It gives a lot more depth to Kagami, letting her tell her on story, making her feel like a character with agency and her own thoughts and feelings. Luka… doesn’t really have that. He mostly seems to exist for other characters, without having much in the way of desires or history of his own. It fits with his portrayal in canon thus far – he’s woefully underdeveloped – but leaves him feeling like more of a receptacle for the other characters thoughts and feelings, than an actual person.

With Adrien, Luka seems to have more agency and act more like a character in his own right, but not so much when it comes to Marinette.

Speaking of Adrien, he has his OWN dilemma to struggle through.

 _Just like Marinette, Luka Couffaine’s creative soul shines brighter than the sun. Just like Marinette, Luka makes Adrien’s insides tingle and burn with as little as a smile. And yet, with as many similarities as he shares with Marinette, Luka is also nothing like her. Where Marinette is a hurricane, forceful and mesmerising and drawing people into her tempest of passion, Luka is a tsunami, appearing perfectly serene and soft on the surface with that stormy soul underneath, until it’s too late to realise that you’re about to be swallowed. And Adrien hadn’t realised until now, until there was no chance of escape. Not only this, but after their adventure that had resulted in meeting Luka, Kagami’s also starting to creep up on him like a thunderstorm, visible and foreboding on the horizon but not quite close enough to warrant action. At least, not until it’s too late to act, just like Luka’s tsunami but almost deadlier since she’s not yet registering in his brain as anything more than one of his closest friends underneath all the carefully deliberate suppression._ (Chapter 25)

Adrien waxes lyrical more, which honestly I am DOWN for. Boy’s a hopeless romantic. It’s more cryptic than Marinette’s realization of feelings earlier, but since his feelings and perspective on Luka and Kagami have been developed more, that’s fine. He can be a little more oblique about his feelings.

The comparison to Marinette is interesting, though I don’t totally agree with it. It took ages for Adrien to realize he liked Marinette, while he realized his feelings for Ladybug, for instance, right away. If anything his feelings for Luka are like his feelings for Ladybug were, while his feelings for Kagami are like his feelings for Marinette, with how she’s slowly creeping up in his heart. I can see why he compared his immediate, massive attraction to his feelings towards Marinette though, since he DOES have that level of massive romantic attraction towards her NOW, even if it wasn’t so apparent initially.

Oh, and as if Adrien needs MORE reason to crush on Luka, when they talk about how Gabriel’s trying to keep Adrien away from his friends, he makes THIS declaration:

_“I appreciate the offer,” Adrien says. “But elbow-dropping my father will probably make him lock me up again.”_

_“Then we’ll find Ladybug and Chat Noir and stage a grand rescue,” Luka says. If it wasn’t for the fact that Luka’s vow had pretty much set Adrien’s insides on fire, Adrien might have been more concerned about the fact that Chat Noir can’t really stage a grand rescue of himself._ (Chapter 25)

Adrien just LOVES someone caring about him that much, standing up for him, defying his father, and making grand gestures in general. Adrien being this deeply attracted to Luka is no surprise.

Several chapters pass without Luka or Kagami making an appearance. Next time one of them shows up, Ladybug’s giving Kagami a Miraculous.

They have a long, in-depth conversation, which again I don’t want to repeat all of, because well, it’s long. But there’s some good give-and-take and here, with both of them airing their insecurities and giving support to each other.

_“You’re autistic?” Ladybug gasps. “So am I!”_

_“What?” Kagami’s head whips around to stare at Ladybug. “You – but you’re –”_

_“An awkward mess outside the mask,” Ladybug says and squeezes Kagami’s arm. “I mix my words up all the time. I melt down and flip out whenever I’m really stressed or losing control of the situation. I have to plan out what I’m going to say before I talk to people about important stuff, otherwise I turn into a blabbering mess. I have to bounce or fidget or do_ _anything_ _to stim because I can’t sit still. I’m_ _clumsy_ _. I’m obsessed with fas – uh, my special interests. I can never seem to be where I should be because I just can’t manage myself, even before I became Ladybug.”_

_“_ _Oh_ _.” Kagami tilts her head and ever so slowly reaches out to pat Ladybug on the shoulder stiffly. “You_ _get_ _it. I have to script my conversations as well. And…well, I don’t have meltdowns and I’m very organised, but…mostly because Mother would be extremely disappointed in me.”_ (Chapter 34)

It’s a nice reversal of their earlier conversation, with Marinette (or rather Ladybug) providing support and advice mostly, instead of Kagami doing so – but still having it be a conversation with a lot of give-and-take. But this is a subject that MARINETTE’S more confident and knowledgeable about, while KAGAMI’S insecure about it, which is a reversal from their positions when talking about polyamory earlier. It’s just a really good conversation in general! It still feels a little rushed with how deeply Kagami is supposed to be ingrained into their friend group when she’s only had a handful of appearances on-screen, but the few times she HAS appeared, she’s made an impression on Marinette at least, so it doesn’t feel nearly as rushed as it could have.

I have a continuity nitpick here though; back in chapter 25, Kagami talked about Rin, a girl she had a crush on, and what she told her about polyamory. But in this chapter, she talks about how she’s never had friends before.

 _“It’s just…” Kagami sighs and looks away. “I’ve never had friends before. I don’t know what’s appropriate and when it’s appropriate. If I make a wrong move, how do I know I won’t lose them? Unlike fencing, I don’t get to come back for a rematch. And unlike fencing…I don’t know how to navigate this.”_ (Chapter 34)

Did she not consider Rin a friend? She talks about Rin some more later, and it looks like she DOES consider Rin a friend, even though she didn’t get to spend as much time with her as she’d like.

My bigger issue with this chapter is that Ladybug never gives Kagami the “test” that she gives Alya and Chloe, with saying that she has to give the Miraculous back. She knows Alya better than she knows Kagami; if she’s going to conduct that test on Alya to check that she’s willing to give it back, then it seems unfair not to do the same with Kagami, like she either feels like she knows and trusts Alya a lot less than she knows or trusts Kagami, or that her crush on Kagami (which she hasn’t full acknowledged yet) is blinding her, which… okay, granted, that is kinda a thing with Marinette. It’s not acknowledged by the narrative that way though, as far as I can recall, so it comes off as an oversight.

A few chapters later, and Marinette starts realizing that she has feelings for BOTH Kagami and Luka, and confesses she has feelings for other people to Adrien – who thankfully understands, since he’s been feeling the same way.

_“I’ve, uh…got the same problem. I’ve got a major crush on Luka. And, um…Kagami. And it’s getting to me, because I’m pretty sure I’m polyamorous and Tikki says that it’s perfectly normal and it doesn’t mean I like you any less, but I’ve been freaking out because what if you don’t approve, especially of Luka and Kagami, and I don’t want to break up with you or make you choose or anything, but I also don’t want you to think I’ll go and cheat and –”_

_“Marinette!” Adrien wraps his arms around her from behind and squeezes. “Oh my god. I can’t believe you like Luka and Kagami.”_

_“Is that a problem? I mean, I chose you first, so I’ll always –”_

_“_ _Mari_ _.” Adrien presses a kiss to the back of her head, and Marinette shivers and melts against him. “No. It’s not a problem. It’s just hilarious because, well…Luka was the other person_ _I_ _liked when I brought it up on our date. And I think I’ve been falling for Kagami too, for a while now.”_ (Chapter 39)

They both have known this for awhile, that they’ve liked more people – they just haven’t admitted it. Not surprised that Adrien was more transparent about who he liked here – he’s always worn his feelings on his sleeve, he isn’t known for being cagey about them.

They talk a bit about it, and decide that while they’re good with the general IDEA of being in a polyamorous relationship with Luka and Kagami, Adrien isn’t ready quite yet – especially since he’d have to stand up to Gabriel to do that.

Luka and Chat actually end up talking next chapter, with Chat seeking advice about polyamory… and it turns out that not only is Luka cool with the idea, he likes Chat and Marinette too… and he knows Chat is Adrien, and that he’s down with dating both of them if Adrien and Marinette would like that.

Also this happened:

 _Luka digs his nails into Chat Noir’s hand, then takes his hand away entirely and gracefully climbs to his feet. Chat Noir can’t help but flush when Luka holds out a hand to help him up, like he’s a damsel or something, but where other boys less secure in their masculinity might have felt degraded, it just makes him feel so_ _loved_ _and_ _cared for_ _._ (Chapter 40)

So sue me, I was SOFT for this. This is why I actually sorta ship Lukadrien, despite not being a major fan of Luka personally; dammit I like someone being soft and gentle with Adrien. It’s why I like Ladrien, actually. Because seriously, the boy needs to be loved and cared for.

Marinette ends up confessing to Kagami later about wanting a polyamorous relationship, which Kagami is ALSO down for… so long as Marinette’s talked things out with the other people she wants to be involved with the relationship first, that is.

The four of them eventually talk things out some more, hashing out boundaries with their relationship. There’s this part here that nagged at me though;

_“I’ve made my feelings clear as well,” Luka says. “I’d love to date both you and Adrien. But I understand if the relationship between you two takes priority –”_

_“Whoa, whoa, no,” Adrien says. “There’s no priority. You’re all equally important to me.”_

_“What he said,” Marinette says. “Adrien’s not more important just because I was with him first. We’re not gonna just shove you and Kagami aside when things get rough, Luka. That’s why we wanna be sure we’ve figured this out before we go jumping in.”_ (Chapter 41)

This is a good and healthy attitude to take when it comes to a polyamorous relationship, and one that I think is essential for making it work, but – well, this is where some of the general lack of development between all of them becomes a bit of an issue. Because while this is a good illustration of how to make a polyamorous relationship work – it doesn’t feel earned. ESPECIALLY when it comes to Lukanette. They like each other, but – they haven’t really been shown to TALK much, to really connect with each other, especially with any give-and-take. Though Lukadrien has that trouble a bit too – Luka provides support to Adrien, but it doesn’t really seem like Adrien can really engage Luka totally as an equal either. It feels like Luka’s more of a plot device for Adrien and Marinette, than a character in his own right.

Admittedly though, that’s a canon problem – that’s pretty much been Luka’s role to date. But it does make the whole “you’re equally important” thing feel unearned.

Kagaminette has probably the solidest foundation of the added poly relationships, with the give-and-take between Marinette and Kagami, the deep conversations, and the additional opportunities they’ve had to be around each other in different contexts, with Marinette picking Kagami to be Ryuuko. It still doesn’t have enough development to really make this feel totally right though, with the sheer amount of development the Love Square relationship has had by comparison.

Adrigami is in kind of a weird place here. It had a fairly solid starting foundation, and Adrien has at least clearly hung out with Kagami a lot, but they haven’t really talked or done that much together on-screen, so it seems like more of a background relationship than anything. Intellectually it makes sense with how they relate to each other and the amount of time they get to spend together, but since we don’t see that much of it, it feels like more of an informed relationship than anything else, where we’re told about them being super close, but don’t really get to see it happen as much.

Honestly, that was my biggest issue with this whole subplot regarding the polyamorous relationships; it felt like Luka and Kagami were being elevated to the same status as Adrien and Marinette, regarding their places in each other’s lives, without enough development of those relationships on-screen to truly earn that place.


	3. Alya (and Nino)

Alya gets a prominent storyline of her own in Hold Me By Both Hands, with Nino serving as her Deuteragonist.

At first Alya mostly has a supporting role, not too different from canon. Even from the first chapter though, things start diverging quite a bit, including with Alya, with Marinette going into a lot more detail with why Lila’s assertions should be taken with a grain of salt, pointing out that Ladybug saving Lila doesn’t really make Lila that impressive or interview-worthy. Ladybug’s saved a LOT of Paris. Along with pointing out that even if her claims of being Ladybug’s best friend WERE true, it’d be highly irresponsible for her to be bragging about it, and dangerous to broadcast her association with Ladybug in case Hawkmoth went after her or the people around her for leverage. That’s enough to prompt Alya to do a rethink about Lila’s other claims and take them with a grain of salt, along with taking down the interview in case it attracted the wrong kind of attention.

But the part I really loved about the sequence was this bit:

_“Ladybug’s saved half of Paris,” Marinette points out. “Lila’s not the only person she’s saved.” She hasn’t even_ _saved_ _Lila before. “If anyone was going to be her best friend, I’d think it’d be someone like you, right? You’re the one she gave that interview to. She wouldn’t even think of agreeing to that interview when I asked until I mentioned that you’d be the one interviewing her. She’s only saved Lila once, but she’s talked to you loads of times.”_

_“Oh – well, I mean, you’ve got a point there.” Alya practically swells before Marinette’s eyes. (Chapter 1)_

Marinette’s pulling at the threads, unraveling Lila’s lies, but… she’s not doing it by tearing down Alya for believing her. She’s boosting her up instead by just stating the truth. And that subtle reminder that Marinette got Alya that first interview, while also saying that she agreed to it because it was with ALYA… it’s just so good! Marinette cares about Alya a lot, and wants her to know how much she appreciates and respects her, even if when it comes to Ladybug, she has to do it in a roundabout way.

It’s not too big a deal when Alya (and also Nino, who heard part of it) begin to doubt Lila, she’s ultimately just a girl who brags and makes up stories at this point. A little disappointing that some of the things she’d say she might be able to set up obviously aren’t feasible, but nothing especially worldshaking.

No, Alya only really shows dislike for Lila once she starts harming her friends – at first when she just pretends that SHE was the main organizer behind the protest to get Adrien back in school instead of Marinette, and later on with how Lila keeps touching Adrien. She still keeps her confrontations civil and to-the-point though.

_“Lila, why did you try and take credit for Marinette’s idea?” Alya says. “Why’d you tell Adrien that you were the brains behind everything, but you let Marinette take charge?” (Chapter 4)_

She points it out and asks, but allows for explanation, since it looks bad, but Lila still giving her a chance to defend herself and explain. This sort of questioning should serve her well as a reporter, holding people to account, but allowing them room to give context to their actions.

Alya and Nino also join in on poking holes in Lila’s lies like Marinette was back in Heroes Day, to about the same level of effect.

There’s a lot of nice just… friendship fluff with Alya and Marinette hanging out together having fun, with the occasional hiccup like during Chloe’s party, but nothing that a good conversation can’t help with. Neither of them want to harm the other, and as long as they’re willing to sit down and talk things out, with neither of them meaning any harm, but occasionally just getting the wrong idea or not realizing a problem, it’s nothing they can’t handle.

Just… all the little sequences of Alya and Marinette hanging out, just having a normal friendship – not one completely devoid of any semblance of conflict or disagreement, but one where they can work those things out because they’re willing to do so, and normally just enjoying each other’s company – it really makes them feel alive and REAL.

The casual establishment of their friendship and of Alya’s character makes the kickstarting of her own subplot all the more satisfying, since the reader has good reason to be invested in Alya, even beyond already being invested in her via canon.

Ladybug and Chat Noir start thinking about recruiting help, Ladybug putting forward Alya’s name, naturally.

_“Well…” Ladybug chews her lip. “Alya’s the Ladyblogger, right? She’s already familiar with our job. And she loves us, so I know she’d never betray us. Also…maybe she’ll have a new appreciation for our secret identities if she’s got one of her own?”_

_“Makes sense,” Chat Noir says. “But why the Fox? Alya’s a pretty forceful person…from what I’ve seen.”_

_“Trixx is a crafty kwami,” Ladybug says. “I think he would be a good influence on Alya and help balance out that forcefulness. And the Fox corresponds to wood, right? That push to grow and hang back to get the facts first could be just what Alya needs, especially after why she was akumatised into Lady Wifi.” (Chapter 19)_

She’s got multiple reasons, both positive and negative, but all pushing towards making Alya the fox. On the positive side, she KNOWS how loyal Alya is to them, that she wouldn’t turn against them, that they can rely on her. But also acknowledging some of her flaws and recognizing how giving her Trixx, making her a superhero, can help her grow, rather than simply taking those as marks against her. The need for subtlety and to hang back combining with Alya’s more naturally forceful, action-oriented nature… the balance helps reinforce the themes of the show, and of the fic in particular taking pains to make the different relationships between characters (Ladybug and Chat Noir especially) more balanced overall.

Alya’s drive, her impulsivity, is only a bad thing if left untempered – going too far the other direction can be just as bad. So Ladybug recognizing that and specifically choosing the fox for her, helping her restructure her mindset a bit, to foster the need to take the time to gather information and analyze the situation before acting? I just really love her looking at Alya and thinking about what kind of support and scenarios would be most useful in fostering her development. It really shows why Ladybug’s a good leader here – not just because of her ability to make up plans on the fly, but for how she’s supporting her teammates.

Ladybug still gives Alya a bit of a test, with telling her she needs to give it back at the end, but she’s not singling Alya out for this – she and Chat do it for most people they end up giving Miraculous too, when practical. It’s a reasonable precaution, even though they DO trust the people they’re giving them too generally.

The banter, the playfulness when they give Alya her Miraculous, just… just getting to have fun with the three of them interacting, Alya getting to have a good time in her own right… it’s sadly rare to see that, to see her own emotions, feelings, and story get a prominent role. It’s great showing her being support for Marinette, but it’s also great to see her friends helping and supporting her as well.

Seriously, Alya’s living her best life getting to be a superhero and banter with Ladybug and Chat Noir (I really love the banter), and seeing her just getting to be happy and excited and just generally being portrayed in a positive light and having a good time, it’s a really big relief and break from the negativity I often see towards Alya in fanfics.

Ladybug’s evaluations of Alya are really great, positive but showing where there’s room for improvement, and actively trying to help her on that path, being constructive rather than tearing her down.

_“Besides, imagine the chaos of having unlimited illusions everywhere without a timer once you’re more experienced,” Ladybug says. “You wouldn’t know what’s real or what’s not. The Fox is suited to hanging back and annoying the enemy, remember?”_

_“Hanging back? That doesn’t sound like me at all,” Rena Rouge says._

_“Which is why we picked you for the Fox,” Ladybug says. “It’s not always about what power you’re best suited to, but what that power can teach you. I get the feeling that you’ll benefit from learning how to be a true Fox, especially since you wanna be a professional journalist someday. Hang back, gather information, confuse your opponent, then get out of there. Even if you prefer to be in the thick of things, it’s all about learning how to use your wits under stress. He did say that aggressive foxes were a thing, didn’t he?” (Chapter 19)_

Ladybug’s up front about her reasons for making Alya the Fox in particular, when at first glance it doesn’t seem like it’d suit her – something which Alya also realizes. Ladybug’s really intent on bringing out her teammates true potential and helping them shine, both as a superhero AND as a civilian here, with giving Alya experience honing skills she’ll need as a reporter, but that she hasn’t exercised much so far.

Something else I really love about this whole chapter? The first illusion Alya makes.

_Right, right. I think I’ve got it.” Rena Rouge’s brow furrows, then she unslings her flute and raises it to her lips to play a short tune. “Mirage!” She flings the orange orb at the end of her flute and when it hits the ground in front of her, a small group of people appear in a flash of orange light._

_Wait. Why is Chat Noir looking at himself? Well, not technically himself, but his civilian self. Adrien. And Marinette, and Nino, and a few other people who he assumes are Rena Rouge’s parents and sisters. Except that they’re slightly fuzzy around the edges and very obviously not real._

_“Guess what, guys!” Rena Rouge crows. “I’m a_ _superhero_ _! I’m Rena Rouge! Me, Alya!”_

_“Oh my gosh, really?” Illusion Marinette bounces on the spot. “That’s so, so cool, Alya!”_

_“We all know how much you love superheroes, especially Ladybug!” illusion Adrien says._

_“I’m so proud of you, babe!” illusion Nino says._

_“Our daughter, a_ _hero_ _!” illusion Mrs Césaire says, and illusion Mr Césaire beams and hugs her._

_“Super Alya! Super Alya!” the illusion twins chant._

_“Not bad, sis,” illusion big sister says. Rena Rouge’s necklace beeps and loses a tail segment, so she sighs and reaches out to touch illusion Nino, and the group of people disappear in another flash of light and the faint sound of flute music. (Chapter 19)_

She gets to do what she’s forbidden to do in reality, to tell the people she cares most about that she’s a superhero, to see them be proud and happy for her, to experience it.

And she’s NOT portrayed as selfish for wanting this. It’s recognized as being natural, and being something to commiserate with her over since she can’t have this in reality (well, as far as she knows anyway, considering that half the people she wants to show end up being Miraculous Wielders). Her emotions are recognized and validated.

_“Rena?” Ladybug says softly when Rena Rouge says nothing for a few moments. “You okay?”_

_“Yeah. Yeah.” Rena Rouge turns to face them, and Chat Noir’s stomach lurches at the sight of her glossy eyes. “I just…had to tell them somehow. At least I’ll have that memory with me.”_

_“You know we’d love nothing more than for you to be able to tell your friends and family, right?” Ladybug says. “But all it would take is one brainwashing or mind-reading akuma…”_

_“Not even Ladybug and I know who each other are,” Chat Noir says. He slips an arm around Rena Rouge, and she smiles and leans into his embrace. “Considering how many hits I take for her, that’s probably a good thing.”_

_“You’re gonna give me a heart attack one of these days,” Ladybug mutters as she joins the embrace, sandwiching Rena Rouge between herself and Chat Noir. They stand there in silence, squished together, ignoring Rena Rouge’s Miraculous when it beeps again._

_“You know,” Rena Rouge eventually says. “I never would’ve put this on the Ladyblog, even without you guys asking me. I don’t care about the world knowing who I am. I just want my close friends and my family to be proud of me…”_

_Alya considers Adrien to be one of her close friends? Chat Noir can’t help but squeeze Rena Rouge tighter after that, not that she’ll know why._

_“I think they already know just how miraculous you are, even without superpowers,” Ladybug says. (Chapter 19)_

They reinforce why this can’t happen, but gently, while giving her support all the while – physically with the hugs as well as verbally by telling her the people she cares about already know how great she is, even without her now being Rena Rouge. She doesn’t have to deal with any of this on her own. Her friends are there to support her.

She gets to hang out with them some more later too, just getting to talk and banter and laugh. It’s somewhat fillerish – it doesn’t move the plot forward much, and doesn’t really tell stuff about Alya that the audience doesn’t already know, but – it’s important in its own right. Seeing her talk about her freebie list, joke about adopting Chat, and talking about stuff that’d happened recently, it all helps develop her and make her feel like a part of this world, and not one that just exists when the plot requires it, promotes her as a person with her own thoughts and feelings and… and _presence_ beyond being a satellite character around Marinette.

Alya’s first major conflict of her own comes with Mr Alternative News blogger, Lars Vos, who is just a PRICK. Seriously, dude jacked her footage and then whined when she told him off for it. He’s akumatized into Faux News, who can make whatever he says a reality.

I really liked how the design for him purposely mirrored a fox, drawing parallels between him and Alya visually, as well as just continuing with the fox = illusions/lies/just generally making it look like something’s real that isn’t.

He goes after Alya’s work in particular, makes it personal, using his newfound powers to steal all the work she put into the Ladyblog for his own website and making the Ladyblog into just a random, amateur website with barely anything on it. Not something that would stick after the guy’s deakumatized, but it’s still really hurtful for Alya, even KNOWING that it’ll all be restored.

And Ladybug and Chat Noir RECOGNIZE that, comforting her, giving her emotional support.

_“Hey.” Ladybug grabs Rena Rouge by the biceps and squeezes gently. “We’ll take care of it, okay? We’ll defeat Faux News and the Ladyblog will go back to normal.”_

_“What milady said,” Chat Noir agrees. “Like we’re gonna let some ugly Rena knock-off win. Hawkmoth deserves our Miraculouses if we lose to_ _this_ _guy.”_

_Rena Rouge snorts and wipes her eyes, even though her mask conceals any traces of tears. “Thanks, guys. I just…god, I can’t stand people who steal others’ work.” (Chapter 29)_

Of course, even with that support, she’s only human. It helps, but she’s not really calm enough to fight the akuma with a level head, which gets to be a bit of an issue.

_“There’s too many of them!” Ladybug says. “And Rena’s too angry to focus on a proper Mirage!”_

_“You no-good fake!” Rena Rouge shrieks in the background, inadvertently confirming Ladybug’s assessment. “Stop hiding behind your little fans and face me like a proper fox!”_

_“Rena, take a chill pill!” Chat Noir calls. Naturally, he’s ignored. “Okay, uh, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to let her take this one?”_

_“We should’ve made her sit it out,” Ladybug agrees while elbowing a young man in the solar plexus and dropping him like a sack of bricks. “Too personal. I think I’ll have to…Lucky Charm!” A little red and black candle falls into her hands. (Chapter 29)_

Her rage is especially a liability with the specific powerset she has, since it really requires her to be calm and able to think critically and concentrate in order to use it effectively. It’s one of the issues with deliberately giving her a Miraculous that requires a mindset that clashes with her personality; it’s useful in honing specific skills she needs to develop, but in a more emotional situation like this one, it’s a liability. Though she’d have been in a bad situation regardless, with the anger making her reckless and potentially easier to trick into making a damaging mistake.

So Chat needs to choose a new ally to help, giving Nino time to shine. He’s been a part of the group before this but didn’t really have his own arc per se, mostly just hanging out and giving Adrien some support when it comes to his crappy father.

Chat looks for something a little different when choosing an ally-Miraculous pair; Ladybug deliberately chose against type when giving Alya the Fox in order to help her shore up her weaknesses, while Chat chooses a Miraculous first, then tries to find someone who matches it well right away, whose strengths match those of the Miraculous. Which probably has to do with it being an emergency; with Alya they had the luxury of being able to train with her first, while in this case, the Miraculous Wielder’s gonna be dumped into battle immediately. There isn’t time for them to learn the ropes.

His choice of wielder is pretty much inevitable. Adrien just doesn’t have a very large social circle.

Nino’s naturally on board with it, even if he’s not chomping at the bit like Alya was. Mostly because hey, he can actually help protect Alya, since she can be pretty reckless sometimes.

I really like the dynamic that builds up between Rena Rouge and Carapace, with both of them being offended at the insinuation that they might be romantically interested in each other and having this sort of rivalry. It adds an interesting twist to their dynamic, especially with how it mirrors the Love Square in a bizarre sort of way.

Anyway, more of that comes in later. Back to Alya.

After defeating Faux News, she KNOWS she messed up and even assumes that Ladybug’s gonna want her Miraculous back.

_Because I messed up big-time.” Alya still hasn’t looked up from the ground. “I made everything worse. I let my anger get in the way. And if you can’t trust me to –”_

_“Stop!” Ladybug holds up a hand, and Alya’s mouth clacks shut. “I’m not taking the Miraculous, Alya.”_

_“You’re_ _not_ _?” Alya’s head whips up, revealing the newfound shine in her hazel eyes._

_“You don’t lose it for making a mistake, little kit,” Trixx says from Alya’s shoulder._

_“Trixx is right,” Ladybug says. “Both Chat Noir and I trust you with our lives, and we’ve made plenty of mistakes between us. It’d be hypocritical to take your Miraculous from you. But it_ _can’t_ _happen again.” (Chapter 30)_

I really liked this. Because yeah, she messed up and it was dangerous… but it wasn’t the sort of mistake where she should have her Miraculous taken away. It’s something she can learn from and work on, and it’s just… well, it’s just a normal, human mistake. It’s a damaging one that put her in danger, but like Ladybug said, she and Chat have made mistakes too. Sometimes emotions override good judgement.

I also really liked Ladybug’s approach on how to prevent this from reoccurring.

_“I should’ve realised that the battle was too personal,” Ladybug says. “This is a battle you should’ve sat out, Alya, and I’m sorry that I didn’t recognise that from the start.”_

_“Well, it’s not like you could’ve told me,” Alya says. “And wasn’t it safer for me to be Rena, anyway? So he couldn’t find me?”_

_“Yes, but we shouldn’t have let you get involved,” Ladybug says. “I’ll talk to Chat. We might implement a rule that you’re not allowed to get directly involved if we feel it’s too personal, unless we desperately need your help. One mistake could’ve leaked your secret identity or compromised your ability to be part of the team.” (Chapter 30)_

I’ve talked about how I like Ladybug’s approach of trying to bring out the best in her teammates before, to help them grow, and this is an extension of that sort of philosophy I think, this idea of “ok these are the people I’m managing, how can I help them reach their full potential and maneuver them for the best outcome?” It’s not based on rewards and punishments, but on talking things out and just plain treating the other person with respect. Seriously, she’d be a great manager and is a really good team leader.

Ok I’m reading through some of the Rena-Carapace interactions some more and damn they are just really funny. Like, just having them know each other and having the same interactions they do as Alya and Nino is fine, but the little twist in their dynamic with the love-hate relationship and just generally sassing each other as superheroes makes it a lot more intriguing than it would be otherwise and gives an opportunity for a different sort of banter than Rena has with most of the others.

That’s most of the rest of the story, with Alya just hanging out with Marinette and co. and bantering with teammates as Rena Rouge. It’s a nice way to keep her involved and keep things interesting while not focusing in on a subplot with her specifically, since other subplots need room to shine. But it’s still a treat to see her in any scene she’s in.

Oh, though just to finish it off, the Nino-Alya reveal near the end when everyone reveals their secret identities is just pure gold.

In any case, I just really loved the whole arc with Alya, especially how even when she made mistakes she wasn’t yelled at, but instead she and Marinette would talk and work things out, would try for a constructive approach instead of the punitive one I often see in salt. It’s just a real breath of fresh air.


	4. The Redemption of Chloe Bourgeois

Chloe’s an interesting character. She straddles the fence between good and bad a lot, with generally being pretty awful to most of the people around her, but with enough glimmers of compassion and a desire to prove herself that she can feasibly be taken down either the hero or villain route and still remain in-character, just depending on how the exact situation plays out.

Unsurprisingly, redemptions for Chloe are common, especially since the show itself started her down that route in Malediktator and Heroes Day, though it pulled back on it in season 3. Whether she’ll end up finishing a redemption arc in-show, I do not know, but in the meantime fans have taken over.

While personally I like a good Chloe redemption so long as no one else is torn down in the process (which sadly is VERY common in Chameleon salt), it’s not something I usually seek out in and of itself. It can be a nice bonus but it’s not a selling point of a fic for me, so my exposure to it has mostly been with fics that include Chloe’s redemption but don’t center around it.

The redemption Angel wrote for her in Hold Me By Both Hands is my favorite one I’ve read so far. It focuses heavily on giving Chloe a reason to change and her actively trying, needing to be taught how to be better, be nicer, and really working with her from where she was at in the show. And there’s not really one big redemptive ‘thing’ she does to get herself into everyone’s good graces; it’s really focused on her slowly taking steps to change her attitude.

Chloe’s redemption arc kicks off with Despair Bear; fitting, since that was one of the earliest glimpses of her starting on a possible redemption arc in canon. Things go similarly to canon at first, with her pulling the fire alarm and trying to pin it on Marinette. Adrien’s mindset is the point of divergence here; his friends have gradually been boosting him up, getting him more used to and able to speak up against injustice, or just things he doesn’t like in general, instead of just taking it all like his father trained him to. Losing Chloe as a “friend” also doesn’t mean that he’d be totally without peers to talk to or any – well, FRIENDS. He HAS other friends, people who actually ACT like friends. He doesn’t need to fear being alone anymore if he stands up to Chloe.

His and Chloe’s actions are initially the same as canon, with him telling her he can’t be friends with someone who treats others like she does, that she has to be nice, and her throwing a party for everyone in order to get back into his good graces, and… well, it goes more-or-less like canon, as far as the actions and arc surrounding Chloe go.

It really diverges AFTER the party, with Adrien putting his foot down on not being friends with Chloe until she can be nice (or at least not mean) to other people consistently, including people she doesn’t like much, such as Marinette.

_“I can’t,” Chloé says pleadingly, stomping her foot. “I’ll be nice to anyone else, Adrikins, please, but I can’t be nice to_ _her_ _, especially when she’s so mean to me!”_

_Adrien sighs and shakes his head. “Then we can’t be friends anymore. You can’t just be nice to people selectively, and Marinette didn’t even say anything to you there. I’ve never seen her be mean to you if you weren’t mean first. And I can’t be friends with someone who lets me take the blame for something I didn’t do. Twice. I was going to forgive you for that, but I can’t if you can’t be nice to everyone.” (Chapter 15)_

This really affects Chloe. She may not care about being nice to other people, about other people’s feelings, but… she does care about being friends with Adrien, even if she’s crappy to him sometimes.

Chloe thinks about what happened for a week and a half – I’m guessing seeing whether he was really serious. Finally she cracks and asks Marinette for help.

_“Teach me how to be nice.”_

_Marinette blinks. For a moment, her mouth can’t find the appropriate words in her brain for this situation, and she wonders if she’s stuck in some dream. Her shock must be plastered clean across her face, because Chloé huffs and crosses her arms._

_“Trust me, the last thing I want is to be asking_ _you_ _for help,” Chloé snaps. “But Adrien won’t even say one word to me anymore unless it’s asking if I’ve learned how to be nice. And since it’s your fault that I lost my best friend, you can help me get him back.” (Chapter 16)_

Chloe isn’t exactly enthusiastic about the idea, but she DOES want Adrien back, so she’s even willing to go to Marinette for help. She’s still acting like it’s MARINETTE’S fault Adrien isn’t talking to her though, rather than her own for being mean, and acts like she’s entitled to Marinette’s help. But Marinette’s not gonna take her crap on this.

_“_ _My_ _fault?” Marinette says incredulously. “What did I do? You’re the one who’s been picking on me and everyone else for years! I didn’t make Adrien do that to you! And if you really want him to be your friend again, you need to stop blaming everyone else for your rotten attitude!”_

_“That’s exactly what I’m talking about!” Chloé jabs a finger at Marinette. “You have this – this stupid moral compass where you know how to be good and nice and whatever!” (Chapter 16)_

This bit’s interesting. What Chloe says here about Marinette having a moral compass indicates that she has some awareness of how Marinette’s, well, good and nice, and also that she has the awareness that she herself isn’t, and doesn’t know how to be. She talked about Marinette being mean to her earlier, but her line here seems to say that while she may have SAID that Marinette was mean, she didn’t really believe it even then. And she also seems to be figuring out that what she thought was being “nice” with how she threw that party didn’t really qualify, so she’s sort of flailing trying to figure out what these terms even mean.

Which is shown in Chloe’s and Marinette’s next exchange:

_“Well, do you want to be nice for Adrien? Or for yourself?” Marinette says. “If you want to be nice just to get Adrien to be your friend again, you’re not going to stay nice. You’re not going to_ _want_ _to stay nice. And I’m not going to put the effort into helping you unless I know that you’ll be nice even after you get what you want. Not after you spent_ _years_ _bullying all of us, Chloé.”_

_“I never had a reason to be nice before,” Chloé says. “Being nice lets people walk all over you.” (Chapter 20)_

Chloe’s view of what being “nice” means is skewed, likely from seeing people take advantage of “niceness”. And with this definition and general view on niceness, it’s no wonder she hasn’t wanted to be ‘nice’ before. No one likes to be trampled, least of all someone as proud as Chloe.

_“Nice doesn’t mean being a pushover,” Marinette counters. “You can be nice and still stand up for yourself. That’s something I’m learning.”_

_“Whatever. Look, are you going to help me or not? I want my best friend back.”_

_Marinette sighs. Is she really doing this? Yeah, she is. Doing this might help Chloé become a better person and stop bullying everyone._

_“On one condition,” she says. “You actually try. I don’t want anything from you except a promise that you’re going to try and be a better person and not just pretend to be to get what you want. And I’m not going to hold your hand and tell you what to do every step of the way.”_

_“Yes, yes, whatever.” Chloé waves a hand. “You can come to the hotel after school and start teaching me. I’m not going to waste my precious lunch time.” She turns and struts out of the bathroom, leaving Marinette to try and process what had just happened and wonder if someone had tried to divide by zero and shattered the universe as they know it. (Chapter 16)_

Chloe still doesn’t seem to really understand what Marinette’s getting at as far as being a better person and being able to be nice and still stand up for herself, but she’s at least sort of willing to listen, maybe, and this is part of what she needs to be shown, needs to be taught. So while Marinette’s not exactly thrilled at the idea and doesn’t have much reason to help Chloe for Chloe’s sake (she doesn’t owe Chloe anything), she DOES at least have reason to help Chloe for her own sake, and the sake of everyone else who interacts with her.

Marinette starts on the lesson later that day, and right away it’s off to a rocky start.

_“This? Big?” Chloé says. “Oh, right. I forgot that you’re just a baker’s daughter.”_

_“You know, I can just walk right back out if you’re not serious about learning to be nicer,” Marinette says. “And I can’t think of anyone else who’d agree to help you.”_

_“Right, like you’re not just doing this to suck up to Adrikins.” (Chapter 16)_

Chloe can’t seem to comprehend that anyone would want to do something like this, to do something ‘nice’ that requires time and effort and investment unless it’s to curry favor with someone. It has to be transactional. Considering that her father’s a major political figure and her mother’s a highly influential (and really mean and awful) fashionista, whom people would probably frequently either try to endear themselves to in order to extract favors, or who would themselves try to network with others in order to grow their own influence, I’m not surprised she has this view of the world.

Marinette does actually have selfish reasons for being willing to do this, which she’s pretty up front about. They’re not connected to Adrien though.

_“Funnily enough, some people do things because it feels good to be nice and helpful. And if you think the only thing I’m getting out of this is impressing Adrien, you’ve clearly forgotten the past few years before he even came along.” Marinette crosses her arms. “I’m actually being pretty selfish in doing this, you know. My life will be a whole lot better without you being mean all the time. And so will everyone else’s.”_

_“So, Dupain-Cheng’s got bite.” Chloé smirks and leads Marinette through the right door and into her sitting room, where a tray of snacks such as cut fruit and sushi rests on the glass table. Chloé settles herself on one of the chairs and waits until Marinette hesitantly sits down in an adjoining seat before speaking again. “Alright, chop, chop. How do I be nice?” (Chapter 16)_

Chloe seems to respect being stood up to, having people not cave to her. I’m guessing part of that has to do with associations. She thinks being nice means being a doormat after all, and I’m guessing also that people who’re doormats deserve to be trampled on, kind of a “they know their place” thing. So Marinette asserting herself and showing she won’t be submissive earns some respect.

Marinette really needs to start from the ground up with teaching Chloe. None of this will do much good, will be more than performance art if Chloe can’t find some internal reason to change.

_“First, you figure out why you want to be nice,” Marinette says. “Because if it’s just to make Adrien happy, I’m walking straight out of here. You have to have a reason for yourself or you’ll never stay nice.”_

_“Then why are_ _you_ _nice?”_

_“Because it makes me feel good. I like seeing people happy because of something nice that I’ve said or done.”_

_“Boring,” Chloé sings. Marinette resists the urge to roll her eyes. (Chapter 16)_

This isn’t much of an incentive for Chloe, not at this point. She has to actually care what others think and feel in order for this to matter to her, and well – while she DOES actually care about that, it’s only with a select few people, at least as far as she’s willing to recognize.

The more selfish, materialistic incentives to be nice interest Chloe a lot more.

_“Well, if you’re nice then people will like you,” she says through gritted teeth, wondering why she even agreed to do this. “And if people like you then they’ll treat you better. Which means they’ll want to do more things for you.”_

_“Wait, so I can actually get something out of being nice?” Chloé says. Marinette considers rushing out to Chloé’s balcony and throwing herself over the railing._

_“Not that you should want to be nice for selfish reasons, but yes,” she says. “And then once it becomes habit, you’ll find that you like being nice –”_

_“Don’t worry about that part,” Chloé says. “Let’s focus on the part where being nice gets me stuff.” (Chapter 16)_

This is more what she’s used to, and something she’s no doubt seen in action before; being nice on a transactional basis in order to get stuff. It fits neatly into her worldview.

But that’s not good enough.

_“It’s not as simple as saying a few nice things,” Marinette says. “You have to keep showing that you mean it, or people will see that you’re being fake. I suggest you start treating Sabrina nicer.”_

_“What do you mean? Sabrina loves me!”_

_“You treat her like a servant!” Marinette strongly considers throwing the piece of pineapple in her hand at Chloé – it’ll blend in nicely with the other girl’s hair and jacket – but she forces herself to not lose her cool. “You make her do your homework, steal for you, whatever else you say!”_

_“I give her gifts all the time! I gave her an old dress of mine just the other day!”_

_Breathe, Marinette. Breathe. Don’t beat up the annoying blonde. “Just because you give Sabrina your old things doesn’t mean that you’re being nice to her,” she says. “Try thanking her for doing your homework. Ask her opinion on things and don’t think that she agrees just because she rushes to back you up. Treat her like an actual person.” (Chapter 16)_

Chloe’s mindset is pretty apparent here. She knows Sabrina follows her, that she does what she says and seems to like her, therefore that must mean she’s being “nice” to her. She gives Sabrina gifts, which she thinks makes everything else about how she treats her okay. Probably because that’s what she’s experienced herself, with her parents not really having much time for actual bonding (or just treating her like crap in Audrey’s case), and substituting gifts instead. Also seen this with other rich parents, since it’s a favorite tactic of Gabriel’s.

Marinette at least tries to get her into the habit of thinking up nice things about other people, about treating people nicely, even if Chloe hasn’t yet really gotten what niceness really is or why she should be nice aside from on a transactional basis.

_“Your homework is to think of a nice thing to say about every single person in our class.” Marinette ignores Chloé’s complaining, for her own sanity. “Then you’re going to go up to each person and say it tomorrow. I really don’t care if you can’t bring yourself to do it for me, but I want you to do it for everyone else. And no, it can’t be a backhanded compliment,” she says before Chloé can even open her mouth. “It has to be something genuinely nice.”_

_“But what if there’s nothing nice to say?” Chloé says. “What if their outfit and their hair and everything is ugly?”_

_“Think of something!” Marinette throws her hands up. “Offer them advice if you absolutely have to, just in a helpful way! If you want to be nice then you need to practice, and you need to make others believe that you’re trying.” (Chapter 16)_

And Chloe does genuinely make an effort, to the point that Alya thinks there’s an akuma. It’s nowhere near being natural, but just the fact that she’s willing to listen to what Marinette says and put it into practice, to make that effort, is extremely encouraging, even if she doesn’t really understand how or why to be nice.

_“Thank…you…for doing my homework, Sabrina,” Chloé says loudly. Her voice carries across the classroom, although this is probably just because everyone’s gone dead silent to stare at her. Sabrina looks like she’s questioning reality._

_“Um…it’s no problem, Chloé?” the redhead says slowly. “You know you don’t have to thank me for it.”_

_“Well, I thought it would be…nice. To show that I…appreciate you. You’re…a good friend.” (Chapter 16)_

Soon afterwards Chloe shows just how much Adrien means to her, that he’s not just a possession to her, that she genuinely cares about him as a person, cares about his wellbeing, even if she didn’t realize how much before this.

_“Cute,” Chloé drawls. “You’ve worried yourself sick over your friend. At least it’s not something super serious like I thought.”_

_“Nothing super serious? How can you say that?”_

_“Because his father’s like this all the time. It’s not like I’m_ _happy_ _, but at least I know it’s not something like having a broken leg or me needing to destroy whoever hurt him or something.”_

_Marinette totally doesn’t buy that. “Rubbish! After you let Adrien take the fall for what you did twice, pretending like you care is a total new low for you, Chloé. You don’t care about him at all, do you, you just see him as some trophy –”_

_Chloé’s hand shoots out to grab Marinette’s wrist and yank her down the next corridor and into the girl’s bathroom. “Don’t you even dare go there, Dupain-Cheng,” Chloé hisses, squeezing Marinette’s wrist as the door slams shut behind them. “I’m trying to be_ _nice_ _so that my best friend will talk to me again, so don’t you even_ _think_ _of implying that he’s just a shiny thing to me. I just…didn’t realise how special he was until he stopped talking to me for good. I didn’t realise that I was treating him like shit as well as all you peasants since, you know,_ _that’s my default_ _.” (Chapter 17)_

This is an important step for Chloe. She may not know exactly why she should be nice to most other people yet, but she at least DOES realize how awfully she was treating the few people she does care about and wants to be better to them, and to ensure that others don’t treat them badly either. And it means she gets the general concept of why to be nice to people beyond a transactional basis, that she DOES actually care about others feelings, it’s just that the group of people who she cares about is very small at the moment. But it’s something to build on, a foundation that can be expanded.

_“You hate me, Dupain-Cheng,” Chloé snaps. “I hate you. Forgive me if I don’t believe that.”_

_“I don’t_ _hate_ _you,” Marinette says. “Not since you asked me for help. I’ve actually been…impressed at how you’re really trying to be nice. I don’t_ _like_ _you, but I don’t_ _hate_ _you. And even if I did hate you, I wouldn’t go spreading around anything that you tell me in private.”_

_Chloé stares at her for a long moment, then sighs. “You’re, like, the one person I can actually believe wouldn’t do that to me,” she mutters. “Stupid, goodie-two-shoes Marinette Dupain-Cheng. No, I’m not in love with Adrien, okay? He’s like my brother. But I don’t want anyone else to get near him.” (Chapter 17)_

Chloe’s actually putting a lot of trust, showing a lot of vulnerability to Marinette here. And even believing that Marinette hates her, she still has a very high opinion of her, knowing that Marinette wouldn’t betray her trust even though they don’t like each other. She HAS this awareness of who Marinette is as a person, she just wasn’t really using it before.

_“Why? If you’re really that close, you can’t possibly believe that he’d abandon you for someone else, right?”_

_“_ _He did_ _!” Chloé clenches her fists and stomps her foot. “He left me for – for_ _you_ _! And that Ladyblogger and weird DJ!”_

_“Only because you were being mean and he knew that he had the power to push you to become a nicer person,” Marinette counters._

_“Exactly! Now I’m stuck turning myself into some fake, nice, smiley person that I’m not just to get my friend back!” (Chapter 17)_

Chloe still doesn’t totally get it. She thinks that she basically has to put on a customer service persona in order for Adrien to be willing to talk to her again, and that’s not it. Her abandonment issues also play into it, with how her mom left her. I’m not surprised she’s willing to try to change herself this much with one of the few people who she actually really cares about staying away from her until she does. I feel some sympathy for her though. If Adrien wasn’t the kind of person that he is, if he was malicious, then Chloe would be in a REALLY bad situation with how far she’ll go to get him to be willing to be friends with her again. Someone could use her desperation to make her do things that she wouldn’t normally be willing to do. “Do this thing or I won’t be your friend anymore” is unfortunately a common tactic that kids sometimes use to get their ‘friends’ (though they’re not being very good friends generally if they’re using that) to do what they want. I’ve been on the receiving end of it before when I was younger. In this case it’s a useful tool and the best one Adrien has at his disposal to encourage Chloe to change her ways, but it’s very much a situational one that should be applied with great caution in the real world.

Come to think of it, that’s another reason why it’s really good that Marinette’s encouraging Chloe to find her own reason to want to be nicer, besides wanting to give her a reason that’s likely to last longer than “I want my friend to talk to me again”. Because even in situations like this where using the whole “I won’t be your friend anymore” thing is warranted like this one, it’s still not a great thing to use, to force someone to change or else you’ll withhold affection/friendship/love until they change themselves, especially fundamentally. Good to get that person onto a better, less potentially dangerous reason as soon as possible.

_Marinette’s face softens as she regards Chloé, who snarls and looks away, crossing her arms. “Then don’t do it for Adrien,” Marinette says. “That’s what I’ve been telling you. Find a reason why_ _you_ _want to be nice.”_

_“I don’t_ _have_ _a reason! Don’t you get it? Why should I want to be nice when I can get everything I want anyway?”_

_“You didn’t end up being class president. You’re always getting kidnapped by akumas with a vendetta. No one apart from Sabrina and Adrien likes you, and Sabrina’s more of a servant than a friend. Those are three good reasons.”_

_“Whatever, miss perfect know-it-all. Come on, we’re supposed to be at the nurse’s office.” (Chapter 17)_

Chloe doesn’t try to deny the truth of any of this, which is especially interesting with Sabrina, that she’s getting to accept that she’s treated her that way. Chloe calling Marinette a “know-it-all” for this is basically her backhanded way of saying “yeah, you’re right”.

And then Marinette hits on it. A reason for Chloe to be nice that doesn’t require holding a relationship hostage to do so, that also isn’t super transactional.

_As Chloé storms for the door, Marinette scrambles for one last line of reasoning as to why Chloé should keep being nice. Finally, as Chloé’s pushing the door open, Marinette blurts out, “What about Ladybug?”_

_Chloé freezes. “What about her?”_

_“You’re her number one fan, right? Well…why not do it so you can be the kind of person Ladybug would love to have as her number one fan?”_

_“Are you implying that she doesn’t see me or want me as her number one fan?” Chloé arches an eyebrow as she turns, letting the door slam shut again. Marinette gulps. Now she has to be careful with how she navigates this, or she’ll end up either outing herself or offending Chloé into hating Ladybug again._

_“I never said that,” Marinette says slowly. “Look, if you truly can’t do it for yourself, do it to become a person that Ladybug would be proud of. I know I try every day to strive to be the kind of person that Ladybug would approve of. And once you’re in the habit of being nice, who knows? Maybe you’ll find that you really do enjoy having people like you and want to do nice things for you because they like you and not because they fear you.” (Chapter 17)_

Marinette hit upon the key here: leverage one of the few people’s opinions Chloe DOES care about, does respect, but without needing to say that Ladybug would drop Chloe as a fan or wouldn’t be willing to spend time with her at all. Wanting to change partly for Ladybug’s approval. It’s not the best possible reason to be nice, but it’s a better one than she has currently, and can get her further on the path to being nice because she cares about other people’s thoughts and feelings as a whole. And it’s one that Chloe seems to take under serious consideration.

Chloe continues trying to be nice, even giving Marinette a birthday gift even though she wasn’t invited to her party. Things heat up a bit once Befana shows up and calls Marinette a ‘spoilt brat’, something Chloe objects to.

_“You’re really calling Dupain-Cheng a spoilt brat?” Chloé’s scoff reaches Chat Noir’s ears. “Lavillant might be an airy-fairy princess, but she was actually right for once. Dupain-Cheng’s so disgustingly nice that she makes me want to hurl.” (Chapter 20)_

This is a decent preview of the sort of “niceness” that Chloe’s good at naturally; not the nicest terminology, and she still insults Rose, but she’s clearly sticking up for Marinette. She’s good at brutal honesty, which can be very useful, but she needs to train herself out of throwing snide asides at other people.

Marinette actually ends up inviting Chloe to stay afterwards.

_“Of course you’d be hiding,” Chloé scoffs. “It’s not like you were in the action like_ _moi_ _. Ladybug would be so proud that I stood up to that tacky akuma.”_

_“She sure would!” Marinette says. “Chloé…do you and Sabrina want to stay for the party? None of us would mind.”_

_Her classmates immediately school their faces into totally neutral expressions._

_“Oh, no, of course we don’t mind,” Alya says with what looks like a painful smile._

_“Yeah, you’re totally welcome,” Alix says through gritted teeth. Chloé smirks around at them, no doubt able to tell that it’s causing them great pain to pretend that they don’t mind her being there._

_“Well, I suppose I can cancel my hair appointment this time,” Chloé says. “I’ll stay, Dupain-Cheng. It’ll be…nice.” Her face twists. (Chapter 20)_

Chloe’s preening a lot, but at least she’s preening for decent reasons. No one wants to be around Chloe still and she seems happy with their discomfort, but she’s being civil (if a bit haughty) so they are as well. Civility is definitely an improvement.

Chloe’s also sticking up for Adrien even though he’s not talking to her much right now, like when Lila falsely accuses Adrien of assaulting her.

_“You_ _what_ _?” Chloé says shrilly. “How dare you? My Adrikins would never treat anyone like that! He’s so sickly sweet that_ _he_ _probably felt worse than_ _you_ _when he rejected you.”_

_“Thanks, Chlo,” Adrien says quietly. Chloé shoots him a small smile, with none of her usual smugness or nastiness, and tosses her ponytail. The message in her eyes is crystal clear: even if they’re not technically friends right now, she’s always got his back. (Chapter 23)_

This is just her protecting her friend for his own sake. It’s been shown before, but… yeah, this is the kind of thing where it’s really good to see it interwoven throughout the narrative, showing that it’s not a one-time thing or something she just states, but is actively demonstrated as well.

Zombizou still happens, which in this case means Chloe backslid a little. Which is pretty realistic, that happens. Which gets Ladybug, Rena, and Chat talking about what do about it.

_“Yeah,” Rena Rouge says. “A kissing zombie? And here I thought Chloé was trying to be better rather than ruining birthday gifts and getting our teacher akumatised. She went to_ _Marinette’s_ _party, for god’s sake, and she_ _hates_ _Marinette.”_

_“Maybe she just relapsed?” Chat Noir says. “I know it can be hard to move past stuff that’s so…well, force of habit. And she’s had a bit of a rough family life.”_

_“That’s still no excuse,” Ladybug says. “A friend of mine has also had a rough family life and he’s one of the sweetest people I know. But…maybe Chloé does need support. Not coddling, but just enough support to keep her on the right track.” (Chapter 26)_

I’m really glad Ladybug was thinking about this. Because Adrien withdrawing support may have been what prompted Chloe to change, but just leaving her without sufficient support is unlikely to be helpful. Ties into my analysis of how Ladybug interacts with Alya, actually; she’s not really focused here on any sort of punishment for Chloe, though she’s definitely not fond of her, but is instead thinking in terms of “Ok, now how can I help Chloe grow to reach her potential?” I think she might subconsciously thinking about her in a similar way to how she thinks of her teammates, which is fitting considering that Chloe joins the team later.

Ladybug goes to talk to Chloe later that night, questioning her about what happened.

At first Chloe puts up her usual haughty, arrogant façade.

_“Chloé, you can drop the bravado,” Ladybug says. “I know you’ve been trying to be nicer. Why did you ruin Marinette’s gift?”_

_Chloé snorts loudly. “Perfect princess Dupain-Cheng? She thinks she’s just oh so good. And how dare Sabrina just tell the class about my mother like that! Dupain-Cheng had it coming.”_

_Ladybug bites down on her tongue so hard that she’s left with a faint metallic taste. “I hardly think that Marinette’s intention was to make you look bad,” she says dryly. “Especially since she’s been helping you become nicer.” (Chapter 27)_

It crumples quickly however. Even in the show she opens up to Ladybug in a way she doesn’t with most other people, and in this scenario where she’s already opening up to Marinette, allowing herself to be slightly more vulnerable than she’s used to being? It doesn’t take long to break.

_“Forget it.” Chloé slouches back in her seat and crosses her arms, blinking rapidly. Is she…about to cry? Chloé Bourgeois, crying? “I’ll never be nice. Why even bother trying?”_

_“Because you can’t keep lashing out, Chloé,” Ladybug says. “I know there’s probably history with your mum, and I’m not going to insist that you talk to me about it, but…other people have hard lives as well and they don’t turn it on everyone else.”_

_“Yeah? Well, none of them are_ _me_ _,” Chloé snaps. “I’ve got everything I want. Daddy gives me everything. I’ve got a devoted best friend. And it’s never enough. It’s never_ _enough_ _.” She hunches over and covers her face with her hands. “I don’t even know what more_ _I_ _want. How the fuck am I supposed to give others what_ _they_ _want? Why should I even_ _care_ _?” (Chapter 27)_

This breakdown is different from the other times she’s questioned why she should care. Those times, she was questioning Marinette. This time, she’s questioning HERSELF.

And as much bad blood as Marinette has with Chloe, she still has an idea of what Chloe might actually want here, even though she herself doesn’t seem to know.

_“I think you just want someone to understand you,” Ladybug says softly. (Chapter 27)_

Sabrina might be there for Chloe, might serve her, but… well, Chloe doesn’t really engage her as an equal. Her father’s technically there, but he doesn’t really engage with her as a person either – he either rolls over for her and does what she wants and occasionally puts his foot down on her behavior when pressured. He ends up playing a role kinda similar to what Sabrina does, relationship-wise.

But Chloe doesn’t need just another sycophant. She needs someone who really talks WITH her and tries to understand her as a person.

And then there’s Chloe’s mother, who makes up a large part of Chloe’s issues.

_“I’m sorry.” Ladybug reaches over and rests a hand on Chloé’s. Chloé gasps but she doesn’t pull away or give any other indication of discomfort. “I can’t imagine what it must be like to have a parent like that. But that’s not an excuse, Chloé.”_

_“I just want her to love me!” Chloé stomps her foot. “I tell myself I don’t care and then I see her and it’s like there’s a switch that just flips. She’s my_ _mother_ _, but she treats me like – like I’m a_ _nobody_ _! Like I mean_ _nothing_ _to her even though she’s the one who gave birth to me, so you’d think there’d be_ _some_ _affection!”_

_“I get that.” How long has Chloé been bottling this up? “But how do you think everyone else feels when you take those feelings and push them on the people around you?”_

_“You think I don’t know that?” Chloé says. “It makes me feel…_ _good_ _. Like they can have half a goddamn clue how I feel.” (Chapter 27)_

Taking out anger and pain on others can feel good in the moment, and that’s what Chloe’s been operating on all this time. At her core, I think Chloe’s jealous of everyone else for having people who care about them, for having parents who care about them as people in particular, for not having been treated like a piece of garbage by one of the people who should be the most compassionate and understanding towards you. Which might also factor into why Chloe connected with Adrien in a way she hasn’t with anyone else, even though she hasn’t been isolated the way he was – he DOES have a crappy parent who doesn’t give him affection and treats him badly, though he DID at least have a halfway decent parent as well in this universe (whether Emilie was a good, or even just an okay parent in canon is still very much unknown).

It doesn’t help that Chloe’s view of niceness is very skewed and limited, that she thinks it only means being very sugary sweet and uplifting. Ladybug expands on what she means, and shows her how she can be nice in her own way. Well… maybe not exactly NICE, but constructive and not actively harmful.

_Hmm.” Ladybug chews her lip, struggling to find the words that Chloé needs to hear. “You don’t have to be sugary sweet. There’s nothing wrong with being blunt and snarky. But you don’t have to be hurtful as well. You could just as easily turn that bluntness into helpful honesty and that snark into banter. And people_ _will_ _see that you’re trying. I’m sure of it.”_

_“Wait, so I can be a raging bitch and still be a good person?” Chloé says. “Because that’s probably at least achievable within my lifetime.”_

_“Well, probably not a raging bitch,” Ladybug says. “But you don’t have to be sugary sweet. Just…work on being less nasty. It’s as simple as_ _not_ _being mean. Don’t say the mean thing you were going to say. Instead, turn it into a snarky half-compliment if you can. Baby steps. But you have to consistently_ _try_ _.” (Chapter 27)_

This is a really good path to set her on. One that doesn’t involve completely changing her entire persona and ways of interacting with people, but more modifying it, along with exercising some self-restraint. It seems to really click for Chloe what Ladybug means here in a way that it didn’t back when Marinette was trying to explain being nice before.

_“Okay, fine,” Chloé says. “I’ll turn myself into the jerk with a heart of gold trope.” (Chapter 27)_

Fiction’s great for this kind of thing, and I’m glad she’s found something to latch onto to help her understand the trajectory she’s on, to kind of use for mental scaffolding. She displays the same sort of self-awareness later that chapter.

_“I’m going to pretend that you didn’t just imply that Chat Noir can compare to Ladybug, for the sake of my redemption arc,” Chloé says loudly. (Chapter 27)_

It’s encouraging to see her thinking of this as a redemption arc, as her being in the wrong originally and needing to change, and for her trying to get to a destination of being a better person. It’s not transactional anymore, there’s been a fundamental shift in her method of thought about this whole thing. It’s not just a means to an end, but an end in and of itself, something that she seems to see value in achieving. It helps that she seems to actually UNDERSTAND what Marinette meant, what Adrien meant before about being nice. Which to be fair, the way they phrased it as, well, being “nice”, wasn’t best impression of how they wanted her to change. Now that she understands though, now that it’s clicked, she’s on board. She can see how she can be herself AND have support, have friends, and be decent friends to them in turn. She’s got a pretty good handle on it in her banter with her classmates.

_“Yeah, which means all you bitches have to get in line behind_ _me_ _,” Chloé says._

_“How about you go fuck yourself, Bourgeois?” Alix calls back down at her._

_“Eat my entire arse, Kubdel.”_

_“Yeah, I’m sure this is exactly what we meant by being a good person,” Marinette jokes, seizing the change in subject with both hands like a lifeline so that she doesn’t have to keep hearing about how her classmates would do her alter ego._

_“I’m becoming a better person, not turning into a saint, Dupain-Cheng.” (Chapter 27)_

She’s altering her tone enough so it’s not outright mean, even if it’s still pretty… colorful, and so that she’s not punching down.

Now that she’s got the basic idea of how she can be her own brand of “good” and “nice”, and sees a reason to aim for it? Now that she’s acknowledging why she’s often nasty in the first place? Now, she’s ready for the climax of her character development.

Her mother comes to visit like in canon, and Marinette tries to get them bond over their nastiness (which seriously, that was weird even in canon), something she recognizes as a mistake. Then Malediktator happens, causing her to go talk to Chloe, like what happened in the actual episode – but with more depth this time.

_“I – I –” Chloé swallows and takes a shaky breath. Ladybug smiles and nods in encouragement, and that’s all Chloé needs to let the floodgates slam open. “It – It was me. I hurt my daddy's feelings. Because I want to leave Paris forever!”_

_“Because of what happened in school with the video?” Ladybug says, and Chloé blanches. “I’m sure your classmates didn’t mean to be so harsh –”_

_“Oh, it’s not them,” Chloé sniffles. “Actually, I don’t even care about any of them, except Sabrina. It’s because I have no reason to be here – nobody likes me, my only friend is Sabrina and I_ _know_ _I treat her like shit, Adrien’s still not my friend, I can’t do_ _anything_ _– I’m…the only thing I_ _am_ _good at is screwing everything up. And I caused this mess, and I’m_ _sorry_ _, Ladybug, I’m_ _sorry_ _.” (Chapter 33)_

Chloe cares. She just… doesn’t feel like she’s capable of being a better person, of not screwing things up, of ACHIEVING something. Her mom appearing and making her feel like crap certainly doesn’t help. Plus, these sorts of feelings happen even when people DO and ARE in a supportive environment; Marinette has wonderful parents and… ok she was bullied by Chloe, but that was about it. And she gets these feelings too, to the extent that she didn’t think she could be Ladybug at first, and that after she messed up, she tried to give her Miraculous to Alya. And while Ladybug can’t tell Chloe THAT, obviously, she does let her know she’s not alone in feeling that way.

_“You think I’ve always been Ladybug?” Ladybug says. “You think all of my achievements have been behind this mask? I happened to be in the right place at the right time. The costumes don’t make us anything; all they do is give us powers and enhance what’s already there. We don’t need our powers to be heroes. I’ve seen how hard you’re trying and how far you’ve come.”_

_“It’s still not enough.” A sob wracks Chloé’s body, and she hunches over as though trying to contain it. “My classmates have given up on me. Even Marinette Dupain-Cheng told my mother how nasty I am. Was she just trying to sabotage me? Ugh, I bet she was –” (Chapter 33)_

There’s this recurring line of thought Chloe has. That whatever she tries, whatever her reasons, whatever she tries to do or get, it’s not enough. She honestly has a pretty low opinion of herself, but tries to hide it beneath bravado and arrogance. Actually kinda similar to Chat’s swagger and show-offiness, except that his antics and attitude don’t have a mean bite to them.

I think… at her core, she always wanted to be enough for her mother. That she thought that maybe, just maybe, if she was better, or different, then perhaps her mother would love her. Wouldn’t have left her. Wouldn’t treat her the way she does. That no matter what she tries, how hard she tries, even if others appear to give her a chance, in the end she’ll always fail and be abandoned. That she will always be a failure.

_“Ladybug brought me here,” illusion Marinette says. “I heard everything. And I’m sorry for what I said to your mother.”_

_“Why would you say that?” Chloé stomps her foot. “You say I have to be a good person, then you turn around and tell her what a bitch I am!”_

_Illusion Marinette’s mouth droops. “I saw how much it meant to you, getting your mother’s approval. I just…I guess I wanted to help, but I went about it entirely wrong. I’m sorry, Chloé, I shouldn’t have done that.”_

_“You don’t need the approval of someone like that,” Ladybug says. “Remember our talk months ago? You’ve got support if you want it, Chloé, but you have to make the effort to not slip back into those behaviours.” (Chapter 33)_

Ladybug makes things clear. That she won’t stand, that Marinette won’t stand, for Chloe going back to how she was, that she has to try… but also making it clear that so long as she DOES try, she won’t abandon her, that she’ll give her support. That it’s not a matter of achieving it or not, so long as she’s at least making an honest attempt. That that’s enough. That she hasn’t failed.

Ladybug goes into a bit more detail on how Chloe can be “good” without being sweet, exactly. Chloe sort of got the idea before, but she needs more reinforcement.

_“I know it’s a tough lesson to learn, but you have to learn it,” Ladybug says. “The people you’ve bullied aren’t obligated to forgive you. You should continue to grow whether they forgive you or not; to become a better person because it’s the right thing to do.”_

_“But I can’t be_ _nice_ _. And I know you told me I just have to be good, but no one’ll believe that I’m trying if I’m not sickly sweet! They’ll just shake their heads and be like, “well, there she goes again”.”_

_“And like I said before, you don’t have to be nice,” Ladybug says. “There are ways that you can make yourself a better person without sacrificing who you are. You can speak your mind without being mean, you know. Tell others what you think but also tell them what_ _you’d_ _do. Give them another perspective. Not everyone will appreciate or ask for it, but it’s at least better than just outright saying mean things. You can turn a negative comment into a snarky comment. You can direct your negativity towards evil and doing the right thing while you figure out how to become genuinely good. You can use your attitude for good rather than evil.” (Chapter 33)_

It’s not really all that new information, but… well, often people DO need things like this to be reaffirmed, to be restated, to be expanded on. It’s the final reiteration of this advice, to really drive it home.

And Ladybug asks Chloe to make her a promise.

_“I mean…” Chloé takes a deep breath. “I guess if I can’t be nice, I can at least be…_ _good_ _. But how? I don’t exactly have a moral compass like Dupain-bloody-Cheng.”_

_“Maybe you should see someone?” Ladybug says. “A professional? I know Marinette’s been helping you, but she and I can’t be solely responsible for guiding you. Look, do you promise to keep trying your best? To work each day to become a better person and to reach out for help if you need it, rather than pushing people away?” (Chapter 33)_

I’m glad Ladybug advised Chloe to see a professional; getting help from her peers is a good first step, but… if at all possible, it really SHOULD be a professional that helps someone handle this sort of thing, especially when the other peers are kids themselves.

But back to the promise. This promise is the culmination of Chloe’s character arc, the thing she needs to keep striving for, and something that’s been explained and that Marinette has worked on her with to the point that it’s achievable. This is what she needs to internalize for the redemption arc to succeed.

She agrees, and Ladybug gives her the Bee Miraculous once again, with Chloe promising not to screw up this time.

And she doesn’t; she performs admirably and willingly tries to give back the Miraculous even before Ladybug asks, showing that she’s trustworthy enough to keep it.

That’s pretty much the end of her redemption arc there. She’s around and present quite a bit with her being on Team Miraculous, but it’s mostly just a continuing of the same mindset as she’d been trying, as Marinette had been trying to foster in her, since her redemption arc began. I appreciate that she’s still around post-redemption and has a significant role – I’ve seen bully characters disappear before once their redemption arc is over, since they apparently had no other role or reason to be in the show aside from that, and I find that annoying. But there’s not really as much for me to analyze concerning it.

Overall I really loved Chloe’s redemption arc. In the other cases I’ve seen her redeemed it’s often through her either having a personality transplant so she’s just suddenly a different sort of character without having it explained how she got from Point A to Point B. She also tends to be redeemed through becoming a ‘savior’ of some sort, through doing some particular redemptive act. Which can still be good in its own right, don’t get me wrong, but I’m glad to see a version where she really has to put in the work to change her mindset and work on her redemption FIRST, and the sorts of more spectacular acts to put herself in people’s good graces, like her superhero work, come AFTER she’s done more mundane self-improvement. It feels more realistic to me, and like a good approach considering that her level of wrongdoing was on a more mundane, regular school bully level anyway.


End file.
